$70M for new police station: What are Portsmouth leaders going to do next?

PORTSMOUTH — The City Council is slated to hold a work session Tuesday, Dec. 5 to talk about next steps in the potential development of a new police station.

Mayor Deaglan McEachern said he believes the conversation at the work session will focus at least in part “on the sites we are going to be considering” for a new community policing facility.

“Second is to understand with greater clarity what the space needs are for the station and what happens to the space if we move police out of their current facility,” McEachern said during an interview Tuesday.

His comments came after the council learned during a mid-November work session that the estimated cost to build a new police station at one of five city-owned sites is about $20 million to $30 million more expensive than previously expected.

The lowest estimate for a new station came in at $61.9 million at the lower City Hall parking lot site. The highest came in at $72.6 million to renovate and put additions on the existing station.

Building a new station on the Granite Street site is estimated to cost $68.8 million, while a new facility at the former Sherburne School site would cost $68.1 million and locating a new station at Clough Drive near Little Harbour School comes in at $66.9 million, according to figures released by city staff during the meeting.

A combined City Hall/police station project in Portsmouth?

After hearing the estimates, McEachern raised the idea of selling the City Hall complex.

“I’m looking at a $70 million price tag up there, I’m thinking anything’s on the table, including selling this building,” he said during the mid-November meeting.

He suggested if the city sold the City Hall complex – where the police station is now located – it might be able to combine both facilities in a new location.

“I like the proximity to City Hall,” McEachern said about the current police station. “The fact your elected officials, your city manager, your planning department, your cops, are all in one accessible location, is something I would like to preserve if possible.”

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During the Tuesday interview, the mayor again brought up the idea, saying it makes sense to study “if any efficiencies can be gained by looking at an entire municipal complex on a new site.”

“There’s a lot of building space on that hill,” he said about the City Hall complex location off Junkins Avenue.

He acknowledged too that the existing City Hall and police station “for all intents and purposes need a lot of work.”

“If we’re talking about $72 million, it does beg the question what’s the type of space we need and what’s our most efficient use of our real estate,” McEachern said.

In addition to potentially creating cost savings by combining a new police station and a new City Hall, McEachern likes the idea of having “the police station and city offices in one space.”

“We shouldn’t be in the business of creating space that doesn’t have a purpose or a plan,” he added.

McEachern stressed too that “prices aren’t going down so we have to move relatively quickly on making a decision on this.”

“We need to know all of the space needs of City Hall and the Police Department,” he said.

Back to the drawing board on Portsmouth police station?

City Councilor Andrew Bagley called the police station cost estimates “really shockingly high numbers” during the work session earlier this month.

Reached Tuesday, Bagley believes “absolutely we need to go back to the drawing board and start fresh.”

“Maybe put a cost out first and try to achieve the cost,” he suggested.

In terms of combining a City Hall and police station project, Bagley said, “I don’t know if that fiscally is feasible.”

“I do really appreciate the City Hall and police station being in one location, it’s good for a lot of reasons,” Bagley said.

But he stressed he is “very cognizant of the tax burden,” that will result from a police station project.

“We also have to keep in mind that Portsmouth is one of the safest communities in the country and we have a lot of needs,” Bagley said.

He pointed out that police “absolutely need a safe place to work but the vast majority of our officers are out in the community patrolling.”

He believes the city is competitive when it comes to hiring police because “we pay our staff a good wage,” rather than for example, “because we have good locker rooms.”

In terms of next week’s upcoming work session, Bagley thinks “what we have to do as a council is decide do we go back to the drawing board and start fresh or continue the way we’re going.”

“Once we have consensus that’s when we’re really going to hear from the community,” he said. “The council really has an important obligation to make a hard decision on what the next steps are.”

Next week’s work session on the police station is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 5 and will be held in City Council Chambers in City Hall.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Portsmouth NH police station estimate is $70 million