Question 1

What is being proposed?

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 2

What is the revised cost of the project?

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 3

Why are you able to reduce the earlier cost by 10% now? Why didn't you look at reducing the cost before?

Accepted Answer

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

Question 4

How does the cost compare to similar projects?

Accepted Answer

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

Question 5

Why combine the Police and Fire Departments in one building?

Accepted Answer

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

Question 6

Why not renovate the existing facilities?

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 7

How will the Town pay for the project?

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 8

Was there any effort made to lower construction costs?

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 9

Why doesn’t the Town get further along in the project to have a more accurate final price to present?

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 10

What will be done with the current Fire and Police buildings?

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 11

Why was the Old Quarry Road location selected?

Accepted Answer

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

Question 12

How will the new facility improve response times and benefit the community?

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 13

Will the surrounding neighborhoods be negatively affected?

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 14

How will this affect traffic?

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 15

Can we tour the existing facilities?

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 16

What will the mean for my taxes?

Question 17

What is the square footage of the current Fire & Police Stations?

Accepted Answer

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).

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS