New Portsmouth police station’s price tag: $10 million

Above: Preliminary rendering of what the proposed new Portsmouth police station could look like.

PORTSMOUTH — The public got its first glance Tuesday night at plans for a new two-level police station that would be nearly four times the size of the current building and cost $10 million.

“We need a new facility,” said Police Chief Thomas Lee, adding that the current building — which is only 5,772 square feet in size — is cramped and woefully inadequate for a modern-day police department.

The architectural firm Drummey Rosane Anderson, Inc. (DRA), which was charged with studying future infrastructure needs for the police and fire departments, recommended building a new 22,0000-square-foot, two-story police station on land behind the current building on East Main Road. (The full report can be viewed here.)

The council took no action on the plan Tuesday. The next step is to seek design and engineering plans for the project and then put the matter on a voter referendum in November 2016. The project could be complete by 2018, according to DRA’s report.

Richard S. Lawrence, senior project architect with DRA, said the company looked into the possibility of combining the police, fire and Department of Public Works facilities. “Unfortunately we don’t believe it’s feasible on the existing town-owned land,” said Mr. Lawrence, pointing out insufficient buildable land, topographical issues and potential conflicts with emergency vehicle.

DRA also ruled out building an addition and renovating the current police station, saying that would be disruptive to staff and would increase costs by lengthening the time of construction.

Under the recommended plan, the new police station would be built behind the current one. Once construction is complete, the current station would be torn down and that area used as a parking lot.

The new building would not only give employees more breathing room and provide adequate space for storage, evidence and equipment, it would also feature community rooms available to the public.

The bad news, said Mr. Lawrence, is the cost: an estimated $9,975,000. “They’re very expensive to build, no question about it,” he said of police stations. “These are not office buildings.”

After a resident asked how the town could afford such a project, Interim Town Administrator James Lathrop said the town will be relieved of a significant amount of debt service by 2016, so he doesn’t anticipate a big impact on the tax rate.

Fire station improvements

Although DRA decided the Police Department’s needs were more pressing than that of the Fire Department, it did recommend $968,000 in improvements to the fire station.

These include readjusting the roof so ladder trucks could easily enter the bay to the garage; extending the south side of the building to add a dayroom, kitchen and office space on the first floor and more dorm space and a separate women’s room on the second floor; and making a bathroom handicap accessible.

Mr. Lawrence said the plans for the police station also make it possible to consolidate dispatch services for both departments. In addition, a vehicle maintenance area in the proposed police station would free up space at the DPW garage, he said.