GLOCESTER – No matter what the Glocester Town Council decides regarding plans for a new or renovated police station, costs continue to rise.
At the recent Town Council meeting, Police Chief Joseph DelPrete explained that a potential rendering of a new station on Adelaide Road, near 1272 Putnam Pike, should be ready for a March meeting. But, he added, costs continue to rise.
“About eight or nine months ago we were at $450 per square foot,” he told the council.
When Mark Saccocio of Saccocio and Associates Architects of Cranston presented a preliminary plan at the December meeting, including estimated costs for renovating the current 30-year-old station at 162 Chopmist Hill Road, the cost had risen to $650 per square foot, said DelPrete. The latest estimates have risen to $750 per square foot for either renovations or new construction.
The renovations at the current location on Chopmist Hill Road amounted to 9,300-square-feet, at a cost of approximately $7 million. A completely new building at Adelaide would be 12,000-square-feet at a cost of approximately $9 million.
“We talked about it, and he said this is a no brainer to go over there,” said DelPrete of Saccocio, and the move to Adelaide Road.
Grants already secured for the project total $490,000 from Community Oriented Policing Services, along with $1 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The COPS grant has to be spent before the end of the year, while the FEMA grant has a two year limit. To move things along, DelPrete suggested holding a special meeting on Wednesday, March 6 to review the rendering of a potential new station at Adelaide Road.
“I think if we did a special meeting on the 6th for the public, anyone who wants to come could ask him questions, and he could do a presentation…and that way you can be better informed on how you want to move forward with this project,” said DePrete of Saccocio. “Unquestionably, the cost per square footage is jumping exponentially every month.”
“And that is regardless of either location?” asked Council President William Worthy.
“Regardless of either location,” responded DelPrete.
The council agreed to have a public meeting on March 6.
The decision whether or not to fund either project will ultimately be left up to residents. Town Solicitor David Igliozzi previously said that in order to get the proposal on the ballot this November, the council should have the legislation authorizing the question to the General Assembly no later than June. The council agreed at that time that there should be a great deal of community involvement in making the various decisions down the road, from location, to the amount spent.
Renovations would bring the current facility up to standards for a modern police station, but its life span, most likely, would be 20-25 years. At that point a new station would have to be built elsewhere, since there is no room for more additions, if needed, at the current site. Saccocio told the council building at a bigger site would allow for more growth to address necessary and/or unexpected changes in the future.
Editor’s note: The original headline for this article stated that the meeting date was March 9 and has been corrected. We apologize for the error.
Does the Glocester police department NEED to grow? Does Glocester have some kind of ever increasing crime issue that I’m not aware of? I don’t understand how these town administrators and police chief can imply with a straight face that a 30 year old building is old. A brick masonry building should last hundreds of years with proper upkeep and maintenance.