Section 170. Establishment and extension of fire, fire alarm and fire protection districts  


Latest version.
  • 1. The town board of any town or, if the  proposed
      district or extension includes territory in more than one town, the town
      boards of each of the towns in which such proposed district or extension
      is situated, acting jointly by a majority vote of the members of each of
      such  town  boards, upon a written petition as hereinafter provided, may
      establish or extend  fire  districts,  fire  alarm  districts  and  fire
      protection  districts in said town or towns; provided, however, that any
      such district or extension shall be outside of any incorporated  village
      or  city,  or  existing  fire, fire alarm or fire protection district. A
      fire district shall not be extended pursuant to the provisions  of  this
      subdivision  except  upon  the  consent  in writing of a majority of the
      commissioners of such fire district. Such consent shall be  acknowledged
      or proved in the same manner as a deed to be recorded.
        2.  Upon  its own motion and without a petition, the town board of any
      town or, if the district as proposed or proposed to be extended includes
      territory in more than one town, the town boards of each  of  the  towns
      acting  jointly by a majority vote of the members of each of such boards
      may establish or extend fire districts or fire protection  districts  in
      such  town  or  towns  outside  of  any  incorporated village or city or
      existing fire, fire alarm or fire protection district therein,  after  a
      public  hearing  thereon.  The notice of such hearing shall be published
      and posted and such hearing shall be held in the manner provided in this
      article for a hearing upon the establishment of a fire district or  fire
      protection  district  upon  petition.  After  such  hearing and upon the
      evidence given thereat, the town board  or  boards  shall  determine  by
      resolution  whether  it  be  in  the  public  interest  to establish the
      proposed fire  district  or  fire  protection  district  or  extend  the
      existing  fire district or fire protection district, as the case may be.
      If it be determined that the establishment or extension of such district
      be in the public interest, the town  board  or  boards  shall  determine
      whether  all the property, property owners and interested persons within
      the proposed district are benefited thereby and whether all property  or
      property  owners  benefited  are included therein and such town board or
      boards shall so  alter  the  boundaries  of  the  proposed  district  or
      extension,  so  that  all  property  and  property  owners and only such
      property and property owners as are benefited shall be  included  within
      its  limits.  In the event, however, that it is found that any property,
      property owners or any interested persons not included in the  district,
      as  originally  proposed,  will  be  benefited thereby, a further notice
      shall be posted and published  and  another  hearing  held  as  provided
      herein, unless all said additional property owners or interested persons
      execute  and  file  written  consents to be included in such district or
      extension. When the boundaries  of  such  fire  protection  district  or
      extension  shall  have been finally determined, the town board or boards
      shall adopt a resolution establishing  or  extending  the  district  and
      shall  comply  with  the  provisions  of  subdivision one of section one
      hundred seventy-three of this chapter. When the boundaries of such  fire
      district  or extension shall have been finally determined the town board
      or boards shall  adopt  a  resolution  approving  the  establishment  or
      extension  of  the  district,  and  shall  comply with the provisions of
      subdivisions two and four of section one hundred seventy-three  of  this
      chapter, other than filing a certified copy of a petition as provided in
      such  subdivision two. A fire district shall not be extended pursuant to
      the provisions of this subdivision except upon the consent in writing of
      a majority of the commissioners of  such  fire  district.  Such  consent
      shall  be  acknowledged  or  proved  in  the same manner as a deed to be
      recorded.
    
        3. If a fire alarm district or fire protection district is proposed to
      be established, or extended, and  the  district  or  extension  will  be
      situated  in  whole  or  in  part  in any town which is wholly or partly
      within the Adirondack park and has  within  the  town  boundaries  state
      lands subject to taxation assessed at more than thirty per centum of the
      total  taxable  assessed  valuation  of  the town as determined from the
      assessment rolls of the town, as completed from time to time,  the  town
      board  or  boards shall not adopt a resolution establishing or extending
      any such fire alarm district or  fire  protection  district  unless  the
      state  comptroller,  on behalf of the state, previously has consented to
      the establishment or extension of the district.
        4. Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision one of this  section,
      and  subdivisions one and two of section one hundred seventy-one of this
      chapter, if a fire district embraces an area outside a village and  also
      embraces  more than fifty per centum of the area of such village, and if
      the village was incorporated after the fire  district  was  established,
      the  town board of the town in which such fire district and such village
      are situated, after a public  hearing  and  upon  the  petition  of  the
      village  board  of  such  village and the board of fire commissioners of
      such fire district,  may  adopt  a  resolution,  subject  to  permissive
      referendum,  extending such fire district to include the portion of such
      village which is not in such fire district. The notice of public hearing
      shall be posted and published, and such hearing shall  be  held  in  the
      manner  provided in this article for a hearing upon the establishment or
      extension of a fire district. The  provisions  of  sections  ninety  and
      ninety-one  of  this  chapter shall apply in relation to such referendum
      except that a petition filed pursuant to such  section  ninety-one  only
      need  be  signed  by  twenty-five qualified electors of the area of such
      extension, or if there are not twenty-five electors, then  by  at  least
      fifty  per  centum  of  the  qualified electors of such area. All of the
      other provisions of this article  not  inconsistent  herewith  shall  be
      complied with in relation to any such extension.