N.Y. Town Law § 170: Establishment and extension of fire, fire alarm and fire protection districts

§ 170. Establishment and extension of fire, fire alarm and fire

protection districts. 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.