Plans for new Public Safety Building still “up in the air”

COHASSET — As schematics for the new Public Safety Facility are finalized, the town is deciding which services to include at the new facility, which will house the police department and possibly a fire substation. Decisions must also be made about what to do with the current police department facility.

The police department is currently located at 62 Elm St., and the fire department is at 44 Elm St.

The town will have to decide whether to include a fire substation at 135 King St., which departments to relocate to 62 Elm St. after the police department moves out, and how much money it is willing to spend on the two buildings.

The police department’s facility recently failed a state inspection, and the Public Safety Facilities Working Group said that its storage capacity, evidence examination area, detention cells and more are inadequate.

“Our priority right now is the police department,” Select Board Member Paul Grady said during the Jan. 27 select board meeting.

The town’s previous plan was to build a fire substation at the new Public Safety Facility that could house the fire department’s second ambulance, but it is exploring the option of renovating 62 Elm St. to house the ambulance as a cost-saving measure. The ambulance is currently kept in a garage behind town hall due to a lack of space at the fire station.

Glenn Pratt, director of the Cohasset Emergency Management Agency, estimated that new schematics for 135 King St. excluding the fire substation and schematics for 62 Elm St. including the substation will be ready in mid-February.

The town also intended to relocate some other departments and facilities to 62 Elm St. after the police department moves out, but the ambulance storage would leave little room for other facilities, Pratt said.

Existing plans that put the ambulance storage at the new Public Safety Facility leaves room for the IT department and Safe Harbor Cohasset Coalition, an organization that works to limit underage substance use, Grady said. 

Select Board Member Ellen Maher said that the fire department does not have the staff required to run their second ambulance, and that she opposes pouring more money into redesigning 62 Elm St.

“I don't understand why we're taking down an annex off of King Street, which could house a second ambulance—which we're not staffed for—to completely redesign Elm Street to house a second ambulance,” she said.

Pratt said that plans for both locations are still “up in the air” as they wait on schematics and cost estimates.

“It may be that we gain nothing by taking the substation off the building project,” he said. “It might even cost us money because of what we would have to do to Elm Street.”

Previous plans for redesigning 62 Elm St. after the police department moves out included a decontamination unit and fitness center for the police department, Maher said.

Pratt said the town could not begin bidding on renovation of 62 Elm St. until the police department has relocated to the Public Safety Facility in approximately three years. The cost of renovations changes too much each year to estimate a project cost until then, Pratt said.

The current estimated cost of Phase 1 of the 135 King St. project is nearly $27.5 million, and the town already purchased the lot at 135 King St. for $10.4 million.

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