Back in June of 2015 the Village of Sloatsburg lost an Article 78 case against the Town of Ramapo Planning Board, Woodmont Properties LLC (Ramapo Woodmont Hills Apartments) and the Ramapo Land Company.

The Sloatsburg Village Board will hold a Special Meeting at the Municipal Building on Tuesday, September 6 at 6 p.m.

The Sloatsburg case sought to set aside some of the Ramapo Planning Board resolutions associated with fire safety for the proposed Woodmont Hills apartment complex just south of the Village at the current offices of the Ramapo Land Company. If built, the complex would consist of some 16 three-story buildings and have nearly 400 apartment units.

The Sloatsburg Volunteer Fire Department opposed the development at the Ramapo Planning Board stage because the three-story apartment units would require a ladder truck for effective fire fighting and rescue, something the Village does not currently own. There was and is the added issue of the narrow ribbon of Route 17 at the apartment front side — the complex would spill traffic onto Route 17 and raises questions of traffic density and safety along that important Western Ramapo artery.

While Sloatsburg is still reviewing whether or not to appeal the Article 78 dismissal in Supreme Court, Rockland County by Judge Robert M. Berliner, the Board of Trustees resolved to move forward with a scheduled Fire Department vehicle replacement program.

A new ladder truck and pumper truck are on order. Now the Village must address where to house the ladder truck, which is too large for the current fire house. A proposed new fire station to house the ladder truck is under discussion by the Village Board. The current proposed location is at the corner of the Municipal Parking Lot at Village Hall.

A Special Meeting on the topic takes place Tuesday evening at 6 p.m. at Village Hall. The Board will hear from the Village Engineer’s and discuss the engineer’s proposal on the site location for the fire station.

The Village has already authorized and bonded for the fire trucks, fire house and Community Fields skate park and tennis court repairs. Some of the approximately $1.4 million series of bonds will replace existing Sloatsburg debt and some will be rolled into a new low interest refinancing package. The Village came in under the NY State 2% tax cap by a good margin for the 2016/17 budget.

“The Special Meeting is an opportunity to continue the discussion of the fire house,” said Sloatsburg Mayor Carl Wright, who added that the fire trucks have been ordered and the Village must act to house them when they arrive some months from now.

Mayor Wright said the new ladder and pump trucks will replace a 30 year-old truck and allow the Fire Department to meet all of its safety and insurance obligations while helping it to continue to efficiently fight fires. Each truck is a custom order.

The proposed Woodmont Hills development caused a quandary for the Village because the Fire Department was already investigating replacing a truck. The enormoous, three-story apartment complex would necessitate a ladder truck to effectively fire fight and rescue at that location. The Village, acting on an agreement of “assistance” from Woodmont Properties, decided to move forward and shape its own fire fighting future.

Sloatsburg can still appeal the Article 78 — but the case was already dismissed once.