Swampscott board reviews new police station designs

SWAMPSCOTT – Reviewing designs completed in large part in March 2010, selectmen sought assurances from the Police Station Building Committee that the new station proposal accurately reflected the town’s needs in light of the recently approved regional dispatch and shared lockup agreement with the City of Lynn.”Are we really taking into consideration what we want to have and what we need to have?” asked Selectman Barry Greenfield as the building committee presented the drawings to the selectmen at the board’s Tuesday night meeting.The police station designs were already reduced in 2010 from a 17,000-square-foot building that cost around $8 million to a 13,000-square-foot, $6.5 million building, said committee chair Patrick Jones.In presenting the design, architect Greg Carell said that the design’s size was based on three elements: spaces for technology, detention areas and locker rooms. Of these, Carell said that only the latter remained relatively the same over time, while technology “was constantly changing and continually growing,” and adding cells to a building was “very difficult and very costly.”But while Carell and the committee said that they ultimately decided against a redesign of the building in light of the Lynn agreement, citing accommodating future needs and the potential costs of a redesign, some of the selectmen seemed more concerned about building a station with expensive but unnecessary features. The six proposed cells and the extensive space for technological equipment caused the majority of debate.”If we’re talking about three pillars and two of the three have changed, even if it’s saving $10,000, it’s worth saving,” said Selectman Jill Sullivan, although explicitly stating that she did not want a “redesign” of the building. “I don’t want to build a building that presumes (the dispatch) will fail.”Ultimately, committee members reassured selectmen that they would consider any possible cost savings when they review the final designs with the board on June 6.