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Date: 3/17/2021
WESTHAMPTON – Westhampton residents officially approved a Proposition 2 ½ debt exclusion that now allows the town to proceed with the construction of their new public safety complex on 48 Stage Road.
The exclusion, which was approved by a 350 to 186 ballot vote on March 13, allows the town to appropriate $4.3 million to pay costs for constructing, equipping, and furnishing the new complex. The money will also be used for the demolition of the old building.
Residents voted 221-69 in favor of the project during a special town meeting on March 6. In acquiring a 2/3 majority vote, the town was able to proceed with the aforementioned ballot vote.
According to a study conducted by Caolo and Bieniek Associates in 2018, the current public safety facility in Westhampton “lacks the proper space to safely perform the functions of a modern police and fire department,” and has gone 30 to 40 years without proper revisions.
Steve Holt, the assistant fire chief for Westhampton, explained how the town worked with an architect from Boston to uncover what is lacking in the current complex when it came to certain requirements. From there, the town worked with the company to draft up a plan that detailed what they would add and eliminate in their new building to meet safety needs.
“The biggest concern of the public safety building that we currently live in is a lot of things that aren’t safe enough to work in,” said Holt, who added that the current building lacks meeting spaces, vehicle space, and other accessibility requirements. “The new building has all of these things, and space for additional equipment if additional equipment was needed or called upon.”
The newest building design will also have a secure lobby so residents can easily access the police or fire department if there is specific information that needs to be exchanged between all parties. The building will include required gear room, a de-contamination shower, vehicle exhaust, sprinkler systems, and apparatus bays large enough to meet the needs of the town over the next 50-plus years.
“The apparatus bays that we have for our equipment are placed at a safe position so trucks can come and go without interfering with people coming and going through the truck beside them,” said Holt, who explained how trucks and lockers are only two feet apart from each other inside the current building.
The Police Department in the new safety complex building will feature a secure squad room and police chief office, as well as an evidence room so confidential information can be stored in a proper manner. The department will also have its own separate shower and entrance for police cruisers.
According to Phil Dowling, the chair of the Westhampton Selectboard and member of the Public Safety Complex Building Committee, this project is a culmination of over 20 years of planning and $300,000 in design costs to meet Westhampton’s spatial needs. He added that the town has paid off all of its debt from past projects, including renovations for Hampshire Regional, as well as equipment for police, fire, and highway department.
“Our Capital Planning [Committee] has been working on this for years,” said Dowling. “We’re sitting here with basically no debt.”
Despite this, there were still some residents concerned about a project of this magnitude being conducted during an economically challenging time period. From a planning standpoint however, Dowling said that there is no increase in current taxes for the next 10 years, even with this current project. The town has $371,000 in stabilization funds and $518,000 in free cash, which will be used for reducing the tax rate and paying cash for Capital projects and vehicles.
“We’re well-protected against any small project or projects that come up,” said Dowling. “It’s a pre-engineered building, so once we get the go-ahead, this thing is going to go up pretty quickly.”
The 2018 study originally concluded that necessary upgrades and additions to the existing building would cost $5,700,000, which is 30 percent more than the costs of constructing a new building altogether. This original proposal did not pass the ballot vote in 2018. The town was instead able to acquire what they found to be the best bids for building an entirely new building.
“We do not have the option to do nothing in this case,” said Dowling. “We can’t continue with the current situation with the fire and police department.”
With the debt exclusion approved, the town can now begin demolishing the current public safety building. The project is set to take nine months an finish in early winter.