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.