Though the town already has spent tens of thousands of dollars analyzing projects for a future police station, New Canaan’s highest elected official now is pursuing yet another study of the existing building on South Avenue. Hamden-based Hoffmann Architects Inc.’s $9,700 “building envelope consultation” is “a necessary undertaking to understand the cost of renovation and […]
New Canaan Police Department. Credit: Michael Dinan
In a break from an opinion voiced recently by New Canaan’s highest elected official, Selectmen Nick Williams said Tuesday that the best location for a future police station likely is its current one.
Williams said during a regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen, “can’t think of a better location for a Police Department than where it is today.”
“You are literally seconds from downtown, you are a minute from three of our schools, and you are close to the Merritt Parkway where a lot of activity takes place,” Williams said of 174 South Ave. said during the meeting, held via videoconference. “It’s not to say that I’m not open to another location. I just think that where it is is a pretty darn good spot.”
The town’s highest elected official said this week that he would prefer to find a different site for New Canaan Police Department headquarters and build a new station there, rather than renovate the existing South Avenue structure or rebuild on the parcel.
The cost of renovating the 1927-built police station, which comes with the expense of creating “swing space” elsewhere during construction, likely is far higher than many realize, according to First Selectman Kevin Moynihan.
In addition, if the town builds anew on a different site in New Canaan, it can sell off the South Avenue building to a residential developer, Moynihan said during Tuesday’s regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen.