Plans to find a new home for the Wallingford, CT Police Department are moving forward. According to the Record Journal, the Police Station Steering Committee is poised to ask the Town Council to bond $34,357,000 to renovate an office building for their new headquarters. The location on 100 Barnes Road previously housed 3M office employees. The building was purchased in 2021 for $1.76 million and has since sat idle as the town decides what to do next.
The police department will need new tower equipment, a discussion which has temporarily stumped the steering committee. Initial estimates did not include plans for a new tower and equipment, leaving the budget short by over $1 million. It is unclear at this time whether the roof can support a rooftop antenna, or if a freestanding structure will be needed.
Uncertainty regarding the police radio situation has left the Town Council in a bit of a quandary as it does not yet know how much Wallingford will have to pay to erect an appropriate radio tower.
Town Engineer Alison Kapushinski, who chairs the committee, told the Journal that the $34,357,000 figure includes both hard and soft construction costs. It also includes $3 million for the property purchase and design fees. Jeffrey Anderson of Downes Construction, the outfit tasked with renovating the building, said that the hard cost of the project is estimated at $27,627,467. Final costs for the integrated technology and soft costs have not yet been presented, but are part of the $34,357,000 estimated prepared by Downes.
Mayor William Dickinson Jr. has indicated that he is hesitant to hammer out the radio communication issue at this time because the committee still doesn’t have a firm number for the project. “I hesitate to vote on it until we have hard amounts,” he said. “Right now I have no confidence” in the price quoted from the vendor.
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