#1 2009-12-03 08:40:09
I thought I would start a new thread, as this could be an interesting discussion as to whether or not utilizing the postal building on Toby Rd would be a good idea for a police station. In repsponse to the two other postings, my other concern exclusive to location would be to ask what will be the cost to retrofit this building? There are many guidlines that have to be met when building or renovating these types of facilities (fire and police stations). While you can get away with some things in an old building, once you start to renovate or build new, there are certain federal standards that must be met, especially relative to jail cells and juvenile detention.
If the cost of retrofitting this building is going to be millions of dollars, should not the town look at the former studies and compare the costs shown by those studies of either renovating the old or building new? If the cost of using this postal buildilng is in the vicinity of building a new building that was proposed for Minot Ave. would it not be a better location, long term, to go with the Minot Ave site if the cost is relatively close?
This current Board Selectmens mentality is, "we" come up with an idea and then run with it, never thinking to put together a well rounded committee to research and think it through.
I understand this is an idea brought forward by Alan Slavin as capital planning committee chair and he has been negotiating it. Has he or anyone else read the report that was done by the engineering firm and cost the taxpayers $35,000 to study a facility plan? Does that postal building meet all the criteria studied (other than size)?
Again, from a location standard, look forward fifteen to twenty years, not in the present. Sure the traffic in that area is a bit more than we've seen in the past, but the question is what will it look like in ten, fifteen or twenty years out? Add ADM's medical building with 265 jobs (a car for each), add the proposed hotel traffic, add additional stores at the mall, add ADM's future proposal for development on Tihonet Road upper level, whose traffic will also come out at that locaton, add the development of sixty eight acres on the corner of Toby Road owned by the Robertsons, add the traffic coming and going to Costco and Kohls at the corner of Rt 58 and the future development which will happen along that upper corridor, ten, fifteen years from now, and then tell me this is a good location.
The police deserve to have larger quarters and a better workplace, but we seriously need to consider how much time and effort a study committee put into thinking this through. Did they recommend that area? if not,why not? Seems to me I remember them saying the downside of renovating the existing station was because the location in the future would be too congested to allow not only the police, but the public as well from getting in and out of that location. Picture in your mind the amount of traffic fifteen years from now, not the present.
Perhaps the capital planning committee should invite members of that study committee in for a discussion before they sign a long term contract?
Last edited by Maturevoter (2009-12-03 09:32:19)
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#2 2009-12-03 10:26:57
Mature...I know your involvement in a Police Station project, and I trust that you have done more homework on this subject than anyone else on this site or perhaps in the Town.
I hope everyone listens to you and follows your advise.
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#3 2009-12-03 11:33:44
I will repost what I wrote in another thread here...
"The post office building would be great for a police station with plenty of room for expansion. With respect to those that mentioned concerns about cruisers responding to calls from the police station. Like someone else already pointed out, cruisers are scattered around town. Police departments do not operate like fire departments. The police don't sit in the station waiting for a call, they are already out on the road. Sure sometimes the police respond from the station at the begining of the shift or if they are doing a report in the station. But other than those exceptions they are not in the station. I do think it would be a bad idea to put EMS on Tobey Road unless a much needed second ambulance is going to be manned. The EMS station on Sandwich Road is centrally located and provides the best coverage for a town that staffs only one full time ambulance. I would not want to have to wait for an ambulance to respond from Tobey Road if I lived in Shangri la".
To expand on that. Traffic and future development is a fact of life in many parts of town, not just in the Wareham Crossing area. Also, the new traffic lights in the Wareham Crossing area are the only traffic lights in town that have the capability to be changed by emergency responders. If this turns out to be a good deal financially then the town should snap up this opportunity. With so much space in the postal building the police will have plenty of room to grow for the future. They may even be able to lease space to federal agencies like the DEA, FBI, ICE, etc, who may be looking to place a satellite office around here. Not to mention it would be great to have those agenices around to lend their manpower and resources when needed. The police needed a new station the day the current one opened, the town can't put it off anymore. We need to seize this opportunity if it works out to be an affordable solution.
Last edited by TBL (2009-12-03 11:37:35)
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#4 2009-12-03 12:07:59
Where will the money come from? A police station and a mayoral government at the same time? Are we sitting on $25 million somewhere?
Weren't people permanently laid off last year? Those positions weren't filled. Wasn't there a huge underfunding of the employee healthcare fund? That million dollar amount has yet to be settled.
Didn't sanguinet just ask all department heads to cut 6% from their budgets for 2011? Aren't most town employees without a contract/raise for the last few years?
Where is this magical money coming from?!
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#5 2009-12-03 19:17:08
I went by the postal facility today and the building is an absolute monster! ("Google Earth" the location) Its nice, but I think the renovations would be astronomical. I would think the old wareham pharmacy lot along with the abandoned house next to Nissen Bread would make a decent location for a police station. It would also provide some sense of security to the senior community in the rear and within close proximity. The other option could be to approach Makepeace and see if they would be kind enough to offer a piece of property to eliminate some of the cost to the town.
However, commonsense once again hits the nail on the head, the town is to screwed up and broke right now to take on anything else.
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#6 2009-12-03 19:47:45
I think there are some very good comments, ideas and questions from the above bloggers. I know that Claire Smith was on that committee for an addition or new building and possibly Calvin Hitchcock, former Chief of the Otis Fire Dept.. The WPD definately needs more room. They could enlarge by adding from the front (where the grass is) to the side walk. Make the front all parking for the public. It has been said they could go up and back, over the back parking lot. Who knows? Someone needs to get the old plans out. I'm sure they would need to be enlarged also. But the first order of business is to see the study and the former plans. Second, is the money - again. I don't often hear of federal buildings being sold, but I'm sure they can be. I suspect this would be a lease. The building is not old, but someone mentioned outfitting it into a police station from a postal clearing house. I would suspect or hope that the outer walls cannot be shot through. I'm rethinking the area after listening to the above bloggers. I still don't like that area, but the only ones that would have the answer to response time would be the actual police officers who work these streets day after day. Let's talk to them.
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#7 2009-12-05 01:17:41
I recall there were actually two studies done some years apart. I think the first study was before Wareham EMS moved to their current location. The plan looked at a joint public safety complex. Someone should try and get copies of those two reports and post them so people can actually read them for themselves and see how bad the WPD conditions are.
If I remember correctly, the study actually took into affect location and response times as well as just the physical facility. The committe actually went and visited with other agencies/people and learned about what a police station should have. I think towards the tail end of the study, a retired police officer from somewhere else became involved.
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#9 2009-12-05 04:17:48
THEY WERE LOOKING AT TOWN OWNED LAND NEAR THE MINOT FOREST SCHOOL THE TOWN OWNS ABOUT 18 ACRES THERE.
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#10 2009-12-05 05:09:59
YOU NEED TO COMPARE THE COSTS OF FIXING UP THE POST OFFICE AS A POLICE STATION AND PUTTING THIS BUILDING BACK ON THE TAX ROLES AND BUILDING A NEW POLICE SATION , REMEMBER BRUCE KILLED THE POLICE STUDY OF CLARE SMITH. ALSO IS THIS THE BEST LOCATION , THEY WERE PLANNING ON PUTTING A NEW POLICE STATION IN EAST WAREHAM ON TOWN OWNED LAND BY MINOT FOREST SCHOOL.
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