Chairman doubts fire training center in Stone Ridge

Cottekill Road site remains in running

Ulster County Legislature Chairman Ken Ronk says that while the Cottekill Road site is still in the running as a potential location for a countywide fire training center, he doubts the controversial Stone Ridge property will ultimately be selected.

“I would doubt that the Cottekill site is chosen at this point,” said Ronk, R-Wallkill. “I don’t want to prejudge before the report comes out, but I would doubt it.”

In April, the administration unveiled plans for a multibuilding training facility near SUNY Ulster that would occupy about two acres of a vacant 51-acre parcel near the Cottekill Road campus in Stone Ridge. The parcel is about 1,100 feet south of the college campus, from which it is separated by several residential properties.

Fire chiefs tapped by County Executive Mike Hein to explore locations for the facility chose the Cottekill Road property due to its central location within the county and its proximity to SUNY Ulster, which would be able to provide

classroom space and potentially develop educational programs for firefighters.

It would be used by firefighters from across the county.

But the plan drew an immediate outcry from some lawmakers and neighboring property owners who cited concerns about potential impacts on neighbors

and nearby wildlife habitats.

In May, the Legislature voted to require the county to come up with five potential sites for a training center.

That effort is currently underway, said Deputy County Executive Ken Crannell.

“We’re still identifying the five sites that this contract dictates,” said Crannell. We’re going trough an extensive process, we haven’t finalized that list,

we haven’t excluded any sites.”

Crannell said that once the county identifies five potential sites, it will conduct additional studies and recommend to the Legislature a “preferred site.”

The Legislature will ultimately approve a final site.

Ronk said that while it now appears unlikely that the training facility will be constructed on the originally proposed site, Cottekill was seen as an attractive

location because it is located in the geographic center of the county.

“I do have concerns about the training center being centrally located,” he said. “We have a county the size of Rhode Island. Unless we’re going to operate multiple fire training centers distance is a factor.”

He noted it is more than an hour’s drive between the Walker Valley firehouse in the southern most point of the county and the Saxton fire house at the county’s

northern most point.

Ronk said the construction of a centrally-located, countywide fire training facility has been long called for by the firematic community, which has said it needs a readily available facility for volunteer firefighters to train.

“You need a place to have live burns,” Ronk said.

Currently, there are a few training facilities operated by fire departments across the county, but there is no single location that can be

used by members of all the county’s fire departments.

According to the project description, the fire training complex would include a four-story burn facility, an extrication pad, car fire pad, a flash container pad, a 1,225-square-foot storage building, a 5,280-squarefoot truck parking building, a 2,300-square-foot maintenance storage building, a room for administration and classes, and a parking area containing about 75 spaces.