The Empire Township Fire Board may provide housing to accommodate at least one full-time firefighter/EMT employee.

At a meeting of the Township Board Tuesday night, supervisor Bill Bolton – who serves on the township fire board along with trustee Phil Deering, township fire and rescue chief Ryan Deering, and township resident George Wilson – said he was directed by the fire board to explore three options concerning housing for a 24-hour-a-day operation at the fire hall.

Last month, the Glen Arbor Township Board discussed a proposal to consolidate the Glen Arbor and Empire fire departments in which only one full-time equivalent firefighter/emergency medical technician would be available on a 24-hour, 7-day-per-week basis. Earlier this year, the two townships discussed having two full-time positions based in Empire but concerns about the Empire Township department being able to provide on-site housing were voiced by members of both township boards.

The estimated cost for two full-time personnel is $280,000, while the estimated cost for one full-time position would be $143,250.

Bolton said Tuesday that officials from the Benzie-Leelanau District Health Department laid out a scenario in which the township could establish living quarters at the fire station. The township would not be able to add on to the existing building, but could convert the meeting room area into living quarters.

To do that, though, the township would have to remove an existing shared septic tank with the Empire Area Museum, install a new septic tank, and establish a new drainfield and reserve field. The option would also require the museum building to get its own septic tank and drainfield, remove a storage shed behind the fire station, and take out some trees in the area.

“The fire board asked me too find out how much it would cost to convert the meeting room to living space and do all the septic work,” Bolton said.

Other options the Empire fire board wants Bolton to examine include finding out how much an adjacent property owner to the north wants for either selling her house or leasing it, and seeing if another nearby property owner would be willing to lease his existing home.

Township Board members said they are already concerned about costs related to the fire and rescue department. For 2007, the township levied 4.75-mills of a 5-mill property tax that generates revenue for the department’s operation costs.

“How will we pay for all this? We’re almost maxed out on our millage,” Phil Deering said.

Treasurer Hal Pendleton said remodeling the meeting room at the fire station to living quarters is, at best, a stop-gap measure. Bolton will get the cost estimates for converting the meeting room and make a report to fire board and township board at its December meeting. Trustee Carl “Bucky” Noonan said it is important that no matter what the township does in regards to the fire and rescue department, the township board has to keep the residents informed.

In other business, the board:

• Unanimously approved a $500 bonus for township campground manager John Rude.

Bolton said the bonus should be granted because of the good job Rude did this season. The campground didn’t produce as much revenue this year as it has in past seasons, but that had more to do with an overall trend in the state economy than in how Rude ran the campground, Bolton added.

• During public comment heard a concern from resident Tom Cyr concerning an update of the township’s Zoning Ordinance. The planning commission has forwarded the proposed new zoning document to the county Planning and Community Development department for review and recommendation. Cyr said a proposed change in the Agricultural district for the minimum buildable lot size from 2.5 acres to 5 acres should have gone further. He said the township should have another zoning classification between Agricultural and the proposed Residential Conservation district.

“We need to have a zoning ordinance that concentrates growth around the village,” he said. Cyr said he also believes the proposed Gateway Commercial district along M-72 by Gilbert Road is too big.

The board received different letters from township residents and property owners expressing their dislike for the proposed new ordinance.