New spot proposed for Bangor police station

BANGOR – Even though construction is expected to start on a new police station in a few months, an alternate site is being suggested by some city officials.

Since the city’s acquisition of three buildings on Maine Avenue in a swap last fall with the University of Maine System for the W.T. Grant building downtown, some think the former UMS property might be a better location for the police facility, City Manager Ed Barrett said Wednesday. The city previously had selected the property near the intersection of Cedar and Main streets as the new home for the police station.

Bangor Mayor Dan Tremble is among those who support relocating the police station to Maine Avenue near Bangor International Airport. Tremble said Wednesday that since discussions last fall, he has been opposed to using valuable commercial space on Main Street for a police station.

Tremble said the city could save about $1 million by renovating and not building new and that there is room to expand on Maine Avenue.

“We clearly need to revisit the issue,” Tremble said.

A study is in the works to assess the costs of renovating the UMS buildings compared to the costs of the proposed Main Street project, which has a price tag of about $6.5 million. Barrett said the city might be able to save money by renovating the UMS buildings, but there are other considerations, including the loss of revenues from leasing out the properties that could offset any savings.

“Right now I can’t tell you which one is going to be less expensive,” said Barrett, who hoped to make the information available to the council’s finance committee on Monday.

Tremble, however, said the downtown property is more valuable and there is plenty of space to develop on Maine Avenue, including at the business park.

Bangor Police Chief Don Winslow can see benefits to both locations, but he acknowledges the Main Street location means a more visible police presence, particularly since roughly one-quarter of the department’s calls originate downtown.

Moving the police station out to Maine Avenue increases the distance for police officers going to court and the jail, as well as for parking enforcement employees, some of whom work on foot. Winslow said it will affect response times to the downtown, but noted it could speed up responses when police need to use Interstate 95.

Winslow said the space will be about the same at either location. Renovations to Auburn Hall on Maine Avenue would include office space and 9,000 square feet for a garage and to a 30-by-170-foot former telephone switch building would include a firearms range. The UMaine chancellor’s building likely will be demolished.

Groundbreaking for the construction on Main Street, which includes 1.64 acres the city purchased for $772,600, was to start in July. Or that’s the date hoped for by people like Winslow who work daily in a building that he said is outdated, cramped for space and in some places cracking and deteriorating.

“We need to get out of this building,” Winslow said.

Barrett and Winslow are still setting the start of construction for summer, but it could be August or September. The project was already behind schedule, in part because the city has yet to acquire the corner property the Bangor Radiator Shop occupies, Winslow said.

The police chief said he appreciates that the city is trying to expedite its review of the new site, but says he is eager for the project to start. Construction is expected to take 14 months.

“I will certainly feel more comfortable when we break ground,” he said.