Even though County Route 202 is still months from being complete, one group is publicly announcing its intention to locate there: the town of Watertown Fire District.

Fire district officials, the Watertown Town Council and attorney Mark G. Gebo met Thursday night to discuss options to finance a new fire hall along the connector between Arsenal and Coffeen streets.

The Fire District wants to have a three-bay dome constructed to house an aerial truck, pumper and a quick-response vehicle. The building, they say, will cut response times to the businesses that have bloomed there in recent years.

Members of the Fire District and Town Council flew to Texas in February 2007 to tour Monolithic Dome Institute, Italy, Texas, which specializes in building superinsulated, steel-reinforced concrete domes. The Town Council wants to build a large convention hall with a dome-style construction near County Route 202.

Domes are atypical for the area, but town officials have argued that the superinsulated roof cuts long-range utility costs.

The project is expected to cost between $2.6 million and $3 million. The Fire District will borrow the money and pay it back during a 20- to 30-year period.

Either way, the tax rate will increase, Mr. Gebo said.

Almost 75 percent of calls to the western edge of town have been from businesses, Supervisor Joel R. Bartlett said.

"Even if it's a false alarm, the response time is still recorded," he said.

The Fire District now responds from the hall on Brookside Drive on the town's south side. The district shares a satellite building with the town's ambulance squad along outer Arsenal Street that holds a pumper truck and an ambulance, said Richard D. Tanner, district president.

"The current building was built before the mall," he said.

The commissioners requested that Mr. Gebo contact the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Development office, which provides grants and loans for taxing entities.

"We're kind of in limbo until then," Mr. Tanner said.

Mr. Gebo said voter approval will be required before the district can borrow the money. It also needs to make sure that the project won't exceed the district's constitutional debt limit.

For the department to build on County Route 202, it will need land.

"You might want to contact a Mr. P.J. Simao for that," Mr. Bartlett said. "Remind him that the donation would be tax deductible."

Mr. Simao owns a large swath of land abutting County Route 202.