Leominster mayor recommends building new police station – Sentinel & Enterprise

Leominster Mayor Dean Mazzarella has recommended that instead of a renovation of the city's current police station, a new one should be built instead. (SENTINEL & ENTERPRISE / FILE PHOTO)

LEOMINSTER -- Members of the City Council were urged by Mayor Dean Mazzarella Monday night not to move forward with substantial renovations to the city's current police station and instead held an executive session to discuss several properties the city could acquire to build a new station.

Following a presentation of designs for how the existing station at 29 Church St. could be changed, Mazzarella told the council: "At the end of the day, it's probably not the recommendation. It's not the recommended approach."

Mazzarella also told the council that there are "two or three" sites being considered for construction of a new police station. The exact locations of these sites were not shared with the public as they were discussed during the meeting's closed executive session.

The three plans for adding onto the current Church Street station were presented by project architect Janet Slemenda of the firm HKT Architects. Options included building an addition on top of the department's garage, building additions on top of the department garage and administrative offices, or building on top of the municipal parking structure at the corner of Church Street and Merriam Avenue, which would then be connected to the current station.

Even with any of these proposed additions, Slemenda explained that the building would still not be able to meet the department's space needs.

Cost estimates of the project were not presented as they would have likely been outside the amounts the city is able to pay.

"Just adding a third floor would be the only way to fit the whole program, but the structural engineer couldn't even imagine the amount of money it would take to do that," Slemenda said. "The real question is 'Does it work for the police? Does it work for the community?' and I don't think it does."

Portions of an architectural review of the Church Street station that were presented by Slemenda suggested the building repair or replace its roofing, insulation, doors, and windows, as well as its mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire protection systems.

Mazzarella later maintained that, despite the updates the building would need, it's still a "strong" building.

"It is a strong and stable building and is by no means ready for demolition by any stretch of the imagination," he said. "This is a strong, functioning building, but it does not function as a police department."

Though public discussion on the plans presented Monday night were limited among the council, councilors previously advocated for building a completely new station when they unanimously voted against converting the former National Plastics Center & Museum on Lancaster Street in December.

Mazzarella told the council that the city is moving forward with evaluating new locations and that a new design for a station won't be created until a site has been chosen.

"We're hoping to have a property identified and at least have a piece put down on a deposit by the first [day of 2018]," he said.

Follow Peter Jasinski on Twitter @PeterJasinski53.

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Leominster mayor recommends building new police station - Sentinel & Enterprise