Police Station Building Committee Reviews ‘Final’ Design Plans

The Police Station Building Committee on Monday night agreed to reconsider the need for six cells in the police station design.

Committee members also reviewed ‘final” design documents that had been prepared by project architect The Carrell Group, in advance of a final design review with the architect, likely next week.

PSBC Chairman Pat Jones said that Monday night’s two and a half-hour design review meeting was a normal part of the process for a large construction project and that overall the committee is happy with the work the architect has done so far.

“This (design review) is normal, just par for the course on a large project,” said Jones. “Reviewing the design documents and making sure we have everything perfect is what this kind of meeting is all about. We’re just trying to minimize the cost implications that even small changes can have on a project.”

What wasn’t normal for this stage of planning was the decision by the committee to reconsider the number of cells in the building, as the architect will likely have to undertake some re-design of the building to accommodate the change, though it is thought that will be minor.

“One of the things that we have to consider,” said Jones, following the meeting, “is that we (Swampscott) didn’t have the agreement with Lynn (when the building was originally designed). We’re just trying to do the appropriate building under budget, that has always been our task.”

The committee’s decision to reconsider the need for six cells in the new station comes after calls in the community, and by some members of the Board of Selectmen, that the number of cells can be reduced because Swampscott now has an agreement to have Swampscott prisoners held at the Lynn police station.

Additionally, after the issue was raised by Jones and PSBC member Joseph Markarian, Police Chief Ron Madigan told the committee that in light of the agreement with Lynn, he feels the department could get by with just five holding cells, so long as the space for the sixth holding cell is constructed in such a way that it can always be converted to a cell in the future if the agreement with Lynn is ever discontinued.

Committee member Gail Rosenberg noted that the decision by the committee should be viewed as a compromise by the committee, rather than as the preferred design of the building.

Given that there is some expected cost increase on the design side, due to the late change, the committee also acknowledged that they are not likely to save a great deal of money on the construction side. However, the committee members agreed with Markarian and Jones that the decision would show a good faith effort on the part of the town to save whatever money it can on the project.

Committee members adjourned with the intent of continuing the review of the design documents on their own time over the next few days. All comments, questions and concerns raised during this review will be compiled and addressed to the Carrell Group.

Jones also indicated that he would contact Greg Carrell in an attempt to schedule a final design review for next Tuesday, July 5 at 7 p.m. at Town Hall.

“I think once we complete that final review with the architect and then get actual final designs that will go into the bid, we’d be about 4 to 6 weeks out from getting bids and moving this project toward the construction phase,” said Jones.

Under that timetable, the project will not likely see a bid opening until at least the end of August and perhaps later, depending on how quickly the architect can produce final documents following next week’s planned meeting.

“Once we have those final documents, that’s when I’d say we’d be safe to (publicize) designs in the (media),” said Jones.