The Town proposes to build a new Public Safety Facility to house the Police Department, Fire Department, Volunteer Fire Department, EMS, and combined 911 Dispatch Center. It will be located at 36 Old Quarry Road on the Town-owned old Schlumberger property.

The proposed design is 75,000 SF which includes for the operational space for the program; Police and Fire operations, RVFD, Combined Dispatch, the apparatus bay and the Police Department outbuilding.

The architects have provided an updated cost estimate of $77.4 million (down from $85.6 million). This is the “all in” cost, including next-step detailed architectural and engineering plans, site prep work, construction of the building itself, and furnishings, fixtures and equipment. A more specific estimate will not be available until the next phase of the design process. However, the Town engaged a professional independent estimator to review the numbers and is confident that they are as accurate as possible at this point.

We heard the concerns about cost reflected in the loss of the earlier Referendum. We went back and asked the architects again to emphasize value engineering and make whatever changes were still possible without impairing the functionality of the building. The changes include:

• Eliminating the Emergency Operations Center (leaving it in its current off-site location)

• Eliminating parking garage and covered parking for the Police Department

• Reducing the square footage of offices and common spaces Raised the building site on the property, reducing the cost of blasting rock

• Re-orienting the building on the site

• Substantially reducing the amount of concrete that will be necessary

There are no direct apples - to – apples comparisons, but the architects have provided a list of other recent municipal police and fire projects and we are squarely in line with or below the average cost of $1,000 per square foot.

Local examples:

• The budget for the new Wilton Police Station under construction is $19 million for 19,000 square feet

• Westport is in the early stages of planning a Public Safety Complex of approximately 100,000 square feet with a projected $100,000,000 cost

Mindful of our history and of taxpayer dollars, the new building is designed to serve us now as well as for decades to come.

Several years ago the Town commissioned a feasibility study to look at the various options and make recommendations for our public safety departments. The recommendation was squarely in favor of a combined Public Safety Building because of the following advantages:

• Only one site would be necessary

• Single design and construction teams would avoid redundancies and reduce costs

• We could hire a single Construction Manager or General Contractor to oversee all work

• Combining the headquarters and sharing some spaces would reduce square footage costs

• Combining the headquarters saves one set of HVAC, fire suppression, electrical systems

• Maintaining a single location and its systems would result in future savings

• Improved opportunities for cross-training and operational efficiencies of first responders

The Police and Fire stations are each over 100 years old. We encourage you to take a tour and see first hand the challenges each building presents. We will be scheduling multiple open houses at each of the facilities and welcome folks to schedule individual or group tours at other times. If you are unable to go in person, you can take the tour virtually by visiting our Public Safety Building Project website homepage and scrolling down.

It is not possible to expand the existing Police and Fire stations at their current locations. Neither area has enough property to do so and there are no adjacent properties available.

The Town will bond the expense over 20 or 25 years. On November 4, you will be asked to vote on a Resolution to approve the expenditure of $77.4 million and issue bonds in that amount.

We are currently in the schematic phase of the project. If and when we enter the construction phase, costs will be examined in closer detail and numbers finalized.

Moving into the construction phase would cost another $2 million. If we were to move forward and the project gets voted down, we would be wasting $2.5 million.

We have had much discussion on this topic. Obviously, the Fire and Police Departments will need to continue to occupy their current spaces until the new building is completed. We will determine then whether to sell or repurpose each property based on the circumstances and market conditions at that time. Any proposed sale or lease of either property would require a public hearing and Town meeting. Any proceeds from the sale of either property would go toward the general fund to help pay down the interest on the loan for the project.

We looked at lots of sites and eventually narrowed them down to seven (below). Old Quarry Road was the clearly superior option.

• Police and Fire Existing Headquarters Properties

  • Too small for expansion

  • Renovation would displace both departments

  • Century-old building restrictions

• 63 Copps Hill Road

  • Would require building demolition

  • Not enough acreage for a combined facility because site expansion runs into wetlands and conservation easement

  • Cost to purchase property

  • Site development costs

  • Loss of tax revenue

• 101 Prospect Ridge (Diniz Field)

  • High costs to accommodate topography and utilities

  • Costs to improve surrounding streets (too narrow and winding for emergency equipment)

  • Added time for EMS response

  • Would displace and require replacement of a heavily-used soccer field and the dog park

• Veterans Park Elementary School

  • Would displace an elementary school

  • Zoning restrictions

  • Cost of building demo

  • Concern about increased response time to the north

  • Adjacent to Lounsbury House and historic district – negative affect to character of downtown

• Rec Center property Highly

  • Visible from the road

  • Wetlands leave little room for expansion

  • Requires zone change and/or variances

  • Egress onto state road issues with possible costs for traffic control

  • Costs for building demolition and property acquisition

• Old Quarry Road (Schlumberger Property)

  • Already Town-owned so no acquisition cost or loss of tax revenue

  • Large enough site which won’t interfere with existing uses (ACT theater, etc.)

  • When purchased was identified for possible future municipal use

  • No negative impact on response time and positive for FD heading north

  • Convenient to other municipal uses (gas station, highway dept. garage, etc.)

  • Both Fire and Police Departments are OK with response over existing streets

  • Demo and site prep costly but doable

Particularly for the Fire Department and ambulances, vehicles will not have to be shuffled in and out of the current Fire Department headquarters and will not have to negotiate the increasingly congested downtown traffic. The more central location will improve response times to much of the Town, especially the growing north side. Vacating the Fire Station will also free up several much-needed parking spaces downtown.

We anticipate that there will be a benefit to the surrounding neighborhoods. Fire and Ambulance vehicles generally respond to 7-8 calls per day on average. A substantial percentage of those calls are to the Urgent Care location on South Street, Ridgefield Crossing on Old Quarry Road, or to Laurel Ridge on Danbury Road. Response times would improve due to the nearer proximity of the Public Safety building.

Police vehicles constantly circulate around Town and will continue their travel on all the roads, so we do not anticipate any impact. A substantial number of Fire and EMS calls are to the Urgent Care location on South Street, Ridgefield Station on Old Quarry Road, and to Laurel Ridge or Ridgefield Crossing on Danbury Road. Traffic on Main Street will likely be improved as the Fire and EMS vehicles will not need to negotiate the Catoonah Street intersection or Main Street congestion. The Fire Department already negotiates Grove Street traffic as needed to respond and does not have any concerns related to the relocation of the station.

By all means. We will be scheduling multiple Open Houses at each of the facilities and welcome folks to schedule individual or group tours at other times. If you can’t make it over personally, you can take the tour virtually by visiting our Public Safety Building Project website homepage and scrolling down.

The Fire Station is approximately 16,669 SF and the Police Station is approximately 15,559 SF. These square footages include all floors (and the basement within the buildings).