Camden panel pushes new safety facility

CAMDEN – A committee that has worked for 18 months considering a new public safety building for the town made its recommendations to the Select Board on Monday night.

The 14-member group urged the board to build a new combined police and fire department structure on town-owned land on Washington Street. The committee suggested a two-story, 8,000-square-foot building with an attached 6,000-square-foot fire equipment facility.

The committee’s chairman, Jim Mays, would not venture a cost estimate for the new structure, saying only that buildings of this kind generally cost between $100 and $200 per square foot.

Mays said the two-story office building, with 4,000 square feet on each floor, could be built first. The committee recommended the current fire station be demolished and the new structure built in its place.

The existing Oxton annex building, which provides cover for the town’s fire equipment, could be attached to the new building, or it too could be demolished to make way for the new storage building, he said.

By building both structures at the same time, Mays said, savings could be realized. But if the board wanted to make the likely bond issue more palatable to voters, by holding off on the vehicle storage building the price tag could be reduced by about 30 percent, he said.

The Police Department now is housed in part of the first floor of the Camden Opera House. In a new building, the fire and police departments could share a reception area, conference room, lockers and showers, and training rooms, he said.

Mays said his group believes the question should be put on the November ballot. He also said voters should be given the option of building both structures at once, or just the office complex.

Mays suggested the public safety building concept may have more broad-based support now than when voters defeated a similar plan two years ago. The committee hosted a two-day planning session in January, he said, which was attended by about 150 residents. Residents were able to participate in the planning process for the new building.

The committee urged the board to be sure the new building features architectural character in keeping with the Camden Opera House, Camden National Bank and Camden Public Library. One of the reasons the building plan was defeated at the polls two years ago, critics said, was that the architectural drawings showed a nondescript, uninspiring structure.

Committee member Dave Thomas said the group considered a half-dozen other sites for the new public safety building, but came back to the Washington Street property, which voters agreed to purchase two years ago.

Mays said the site made sense because it sits at the hub of the wheel of downtown Camden, giving emergency vehicles easy access to Route 1 north and south, Mechanic Street and Route 105 west.

“It’s a central location for public safety,” he said, and since the town already owns it, savings can be realized.

The committee recommended that the remainder of the property be used for public parking, but that it be developed carefully.

The Select Board voted to issue a request for qualifications for architectural firms interested in providing planning and design services for the new building.