Southold Town Votes on Fishers Island Police Barracks Plan

The Southold Town Board is revising its plan for how to replace a dilapidated police barracks on Fishers Island where officers need to stay while assigned to patrol the far-flung outpost.

The board unanimously approved Dec. 17 a resolution to have the officers stay at a property on Whistler Avenue after the town revoked permission for the Fishers Island Ferry District to use the same building. 

“The structure requires certain rehabilitation, including, among other work, asbestos abatement and a new HVAC system,” the board stated.

The move comes about a year after New York State Police pulled its troopers from another building that was used as barracks on the island out of concern for the troopers’ safety as the town-owned building fell into disrepair. Southold Town Police officers have since been patrolling the island, which is accessible via private boat or ferry from Connecticut and is home to about 250 year-round in the off-season.

Southold Town Board Member Louisa P. Evans, a Fishers Island resident who also serves as the town justice for the island, said she hopes a better resolution can be reached.

She voted in favor in the hopes that “at our next board meeting we will be taking this resolution back and voting for a different place, so that the house that the town is taking over can be used for year-round housing and the town can use a different building. But I’m voting yes in case that doesn’t work out.”