Salem Selectmen Mull $65 Million For New Police, Fire Stations

SALEM, NH — After several years of discussing facility upgrades, the Salem Selectmen are considering a $65 million price tag to renovate the police station and the main fire station. Deputy Police Chief Joel Dolan said the existing police station is substandard, with victims having no space for sensitive interviews other than the lobby, and holding rooms for suspects being "a huge liability."

At the same time, the Fire Department is looking to upgrade its Main Street headquarters. Upgrades to two other fire stations are also being considered, in addition to building a fourth station to accommodate future growth.

According to a conceptual study by Harriman Associates, revamping the police station to meet current needs would mean expanding it to more than triple its size. It would cost approximately $32.8 million to construct a new station, or $37.8 million to do the construction in phases, so that police staff would not have to relocate, according to the estimates. The new station is proposed to be two stories tall.

During a Selectmen meeting Monday, Dolan said the police department has "completely outgrown" its current station. In addition to the lack of interview rooms for one-on-one talks, the station's holding facility "won't meet any standards of a police department by any stretch," he said. And the current condition of the police holding facility would prevent the Salem Police Department from obtaining accreditation, said Dolan.

In addressing space needs, he said, police were fortunate in being able to add new positions in recent years, but do not have enough room for them. Officers from different departments are sharing work spaces that are too tight, said Dolan.

On the fire department side, upgrading the primary station would cost approximately $26 million. Upgrades to its secondary station in North Salem would be about $2.4 million, according to the conceptual estimates. As for the third fire station, on Lawrence Road, it would cost about $6.8 million to accommodate the five staff members manning it. And a future fourth station could be built on the west side of Salem, at a cost of approximately $13.9 million. The new fire station would be prepare the city for anticipated growth, said Fire Chief Larry Best.

"We want to build facilities that last for a long time," said Best.

Several selectmen who spoke Monday agreed on the need to upgrade public safety facilities, particularly the police station and the main fire station, with an estimated cost of $65 million. Selectman Michael Lyons said the proposal to delegate funds toward the projects should keep going before voters until the money is approved.

"We have to get this done," said Lyons. "Because (the cost) is just going to keep going up."

Chairman Jim Keller added, "Four or so years from now it will be $100 million."

Keller said the selectmen seem to be in general agreement that upgrades are needed. He said the decision whether to move forward should be made in a transparent manner, and the financial proposal before voters should be presented in a reasonable manner. Keller said he would like to see the facility upgrades to happen in as timely, cost-efficient fashion as possible.

The estimates discussed Monday include anticipated costs of all stages of the renovation projects, including design and construction, though the estimates are based only on conceptual plans, according to Will Gatchell of Harriman Associates. Engineering designs for the buildings will have to be made for more precise figures.

In producing the conceptual space needs study and cost analysis, Harrimen Associates had partnered with MWL Architects, who added a more national-level expertise to the analysis, said Gatchell, the project manager for this study.