Camden board eyes town building for police

CAMDEN – The Select Board agreed Monday night to spend up to $1,000 developing schematic plans on a renovation of the town-owned Payson building as a possible new police station.

Architect John Hanson was hired last month to develop plans for a new, free-standing police station on town-owned land on Washington Street. The board wants to build a new police station for $1 million, and hopes to put the question before voters in November.

In June, voters defeated a request for up to $2.4 million to construct a police station. The department is now housed in the lower level of the town-owned Camden Opera House.

While board members said they were pleased with the preliminary plans for a new building, which Hanson estimated could be built for $1 million, they said Monday they did not want to eliminate a renovation and expansion of the Payson building, which had been used by the Fire Department and is on the same parcel of town-owned land under consideration for the free-standing building.