Mar 24, 2008
Darien Times
Printed From Acorn-Online.com

In anticipation of an April 28 vote, the Police Department Building Committee presented an updated plan, and updated cost estimate of $17.6 million, to the Representative Town Meeting last Monday.

George Reilly, committee chairman, said the new cost, up from $15 million in January, is still rough and may change as the project progresses.

Selectman Seth Morton said he wondered about increasing costs as the project moves forward.

“I am concerned with the speed at which these costs are rising,” he said. “I would like to see what is driving these costs up.”
Reilly said the committee will continue to monitor the changing costs, but it is hard to forecast exact amounts this early in the process.

The RTM next meets on April 28. If the building committee gains approval for construction money from the Board of Finance and Board of Selectmen, it will request RTM approval on April 28.

The building committee has yet to name the amount it will be requesting.

The project reached the design development phase in January. Reilly said if all progresses accordingly, they could break ground in September and the project could be completed in the spring of 2010.

“We are now beginning the process of approvals on what has already been a long road,” Reilly said. “And we still have a ways to go.”

A space-needs assessment last year found the Darien police need a 36,400 square-foot building; the department currently operates in a 19,000 square-foot space.

“We are the only municipal building in town that’s open 24 hours a day,” Police Chief Duane Lovello said. “We don’t close, we don’t take breaks, we don’t go on vacation.

“There is no singular problem here, there’s more of a comprehensive solution needed. It’s a problem that has been building for some time.”

The current main floor houses the communications room, records, a public waiting room, holding cells, evidence and garages.

The remodeled part of the main floor would feature a larger communications/dispatch room, public waiting area with bathrooms, records rooms, evidence storage, holding cells and interview rooms.

The addition to the main level would be used for vehicle storage and maintenance, along with other storage.

The current upper level of the department is made up of offices, an exercise room, lounge, lockers and an interview room. The new upper level would add more offices, conference rooms, training/meeting room, reconfigured locker rooms, storage, lunch room, clerical rooms and the new indoor shooting range.

Lovello said the indoor range is a big factor because of the new library being built next door.

“Those two things next to each other are not necessarily going to mesh well together,” he said.

Brian Humes is the head architect for the project. He works with Jacunski Humes Architects of Newington, which designed the schematics and specializes in police stations. The firm has designed police and fire stations across Connecticut and Massachusetts.

Humes said he has been designing police facilities for more than 20 years and Darien isn’t the only town in the area in need of an upgrade. He said two things contribute to the trend.

“First, many police departments are operating out of older facilities,” Humes’ said. “And second, mandates coming down from the state are putting a lot more demand on the police departments.”

Humes also said they are trying to go green with the building by pursuing energy-efficient designs, including investigating a geo-thermal design in conjunction with the new library.

E-mail Darien Times reporter Austin Amoroso at aamoroso@darientimes.com.


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