Commission Seeks New Or Expanded Police Station

By Andrew Gorosko

The selectmen are considering a request from police officials to add the construction of expanded police facilities as a town priority in the municipal Capital Improvement Plan (CIP).

It remains unclear if such a project would be an expansion of the existing police station at 3 Main Street, or would involve constructing a new building elsewhere to house a police station.

Police Commission members met with the selectmen on September 15 to explain that the existing police station is physically deficient, requiring that police either expand that facility, or instead build a new larger police station elsewhere to meet their law enforcement space needs.

Police Commission members want the selectmen to include creating new police facilities as a $10 million item in the CIP. The selectmen did not act on the request. They are expected to review and act on the matter in early October.

The selectmen also heard several other CIP funding requests from other town officials.

The CIP lists many town capital improvement projects planned for the future, including road improvements, town industrial park development, fire truck acquisition, recreation improvements, school improvements, open space acquisition, and the construction of a new animal shelter, among others.

Immediately before the selectmen’s meeting, Police Commission members met with architect Brian Humes of Jacunski Humes Architects, LLC, of Berlin, to discuss the specifics of the space needs study that the architectural firm has prepared for the commission. That draft study states that the police department needs a 29,500-square-foot police station as it approaches the year 2030.

The building at 3 Main Street where the police station is located is known as Town Hall South. The upper level of the building houses the police station and the town’s emergency communications center. A lower level garage houses police vehicles.

Police make use of a lower level conference room in the building for various meetings. The lower level of the building also contains offices for the town’s Social Services Department and the Parks and Recreation Department, as well the borough government’s office.

According to the police space needs study, the total area of Town Hall South is 18,528 square feet, of which 8,624 square feet are on the upper level, and 9,904 square feet are on the lower level. The building sits on a 1.2-acre site.

The two-story police station needed in the future should be set on a site of at least 2.5 acres to provide adequate room for parking and other exterior activities, according to the architects.

At the September 15 selectmen’s meeting, Mr Humes said he has researched the police department’s needs by talking with its personnel and calculating how much space is now needed and would be needed in the future to conduct police business.

A 29,500-square-foot police station would meet the police department’s needs for more than 20 years, he said. Mr Humes noted that his firm has designed the Danbury police station, which is now under construction.

Because it is unclear where a new Newtown police station might be built, the cost of such a structure is unclear, Mr Humes said.

“We’re early in the process,” he said. The next step in planning would be identifying a potential site, he said.

Selectman Herb Rosenthal said that the town faces many spending priorities in the future that are more pressing than providing new police facilities. Those priorities include road construction, recreation, senior citizens’ facilities, and schools, he said.

Mr Humes responded that the existing police station is physically deficient, and is not keeping pace with the changing requirements in law enforcement.

Police Commission Chairman Carol Mattegat said the commission supports the findings of the police space needs study.

Police Chief Michael Kehoe said the space needs study provides police with information with which to plan for future facilities.

Ms Mattegat said that the town-owned property at Fairfield Hills probably would be the best location for a new police station.

Chief Kehoe said that he likes the location of the existing police station, but added that he would have no problem with operating out of a police station at Fairfield Hills, provided that a Fairfield Hills police station is readily visible to the public. Town police could serve the public equally well from either location, he said.

Mr Humes said that very little grant money is available for the construction of police stations, with municipal bonding typically used for construction funding.