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Article 4, 2007 Annual Town Meeting. Proposed New Police Station. Originally Proposed Facility. New construction on town owned land on Hudson Road next to Fire HQ 18,500 sq ft on two stories Estimated cost $8.2 million Designed to meet Town needs for next 50 years
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Article 4, 2007 Annual Town Meeting Proposed New Police Station
Originally Proposed Facility • New construction on town owned land on Hudson Road next to Fire HQ • 18,500 sq ft on two stories • Estimated cost $8.2 million • Designed to meet Town needs for next 50 years • Capital/debt planning efforts made so that this project can be paid off out of the savings as older projects are paid off. Net increase on taxpayers from the bond issued for this project $0 or less (increasing $141/avg home for this new project while going down $149/avg home for paid off projects). www.sudbury.ma.us
Issues We Heard Yes, Town needs to address Police Station problem but: • This proposal is too big and costly • The timing is not right – override and fire truck are enough for right now • Location is not right – station should be on Route 20 • Plans for future of existing station not clear, and any funds from sale should be committed to offset project costs www.sudbury.ma.us
Is This The Right Solution? Is this design too big and too expensive? • 18,500 sq ft., same size as comparable towns • Sq ft. cost about the same as comparables • Tried to apply lessons learned from existing station: it was built too small and site does not allow growth for future • This design includes space for future growth • Planning started with assessing modern police program needs, and design addressed each one • Each aspect improves employee safety, operations, and public safety for the community www.sudbury.ma.us
Option for Slightly Smaller Station • Also looked at a building that is 14,500 sq. feet – removed fitness room, reduced future space, reduced garage space, shrunk everything • Total cost for this is $7.2 million, translates to $18 less annually for the average taxpayer • Kept the primary program plans • Eliminated future space or flexibility • The larger building is the cheapest way to plan for future space needs. Unfinished space is relatively cheap in this plan. www.sudbury.ma.us
Is This the Right Time for the Project? 2 Perspectives Facilities Management Perspective: • Need to think of the long term with our buildings • Town has 10 buildings and needs to maintain, update or replace them as needed (7 major buildings and 3 smaller ones). If we updated one every 5 years, it would take 50 years to address all of them. • Of these 10, in last 10 years, two have recent major work - Library and DPW. 2 have had minor work – satellite fire stations. The other 4 – Town Hall, Flynn Building, Fairbank and Fire HQ – will need major design, repair or replacement work in future • This doesn’t address the school buildings • Back to the old way of letting a backlog accumulate? www.sudbury.ma.us
Is the Right Time for the Project? Financial Management Perspective: • Construction costs are rapidly escalating • The Town’s capital/debt planning has planned for this project since 1999 • Debt service is going down and the savings can absorb this project • Result will be a consistent spending for our buildings www.sudbury.ma.us
Is the Right Location for the Project? New site on Hudson Road, next to Fire HQ Pros: Creates a public safety campus –combined dispatch and training room/emergency planning operations center Town already owns the land Geographic center of Sudbury Septic and Parking can be accommodated www.sudbury.ma.us
Is the Right Location for the Project? New site on Hudson Road, next to Fire HQ Cons: Not on Route 20 Impacts a residential neighborhood www.sudbury.ma.us
What will happen to the Old Police Station? • The building itself probably cannot be used for other Town needs, due to its structural flaws and ADA problems identified in this report. • The land the building is on may be useful to the Town. The Board of Selectmen will study needs of the Town to see if this land meets other Town needs. • If the land is not needed, the Board may ask Town Meeting for authority to sell the parcel. • Early estimates for market value of the land range from $700,000 to $850,000: • State laws on sale of assets reserves these proceeds for capital uses www.sudbury.ma.us
Original Sized Station – 1st Floor www.sudbury.ma.us
Original Sized Station – 2nd floor Unfinished Space instead of fitness room www.sudbury.ma.us
Option for smaller station – 1st floor www.sudbury.ma.us
Option for smaller station – 2nd floor www.sudbury.ma.us
Original Planned Station www.sudbury.ma.us
Summary • Great deal of planning, discussion and examination of alternatives has preceded bringing this project to the Town • Station looks fine from the outside, but that is not the case inside • This proposal is reasonable as far as size, cost, location, and timing as part of our overall financial and capital planning www.sudbury.ma.us
Conclusion • We have shown what a smaller building looks like, but do not recommend it – locks out future needs but at minimal savings • Strongly feel we need to think about the long term future – 10 years, 25 years, 50 years out • Building we recommend will cost $1.0 million more than the smaller option, but is $18 less per year on the average tax bill (before option of applying proceeds from sale of existing station) www.sudbury.ma.us
Next Steps • We welcome your questions and comments tonight. • Board of Selectmen will prefer that Town Meeting approve this project tonight. • If not approved tonight, Board will be looking at options on when to bring this back. www.sudbury.ma.us
