East Lyme residents vote to approve more costly police building plan
East Lyme — Residents narrowly voted to move forward with a more costly plan than originally projected to convert the former Honeywell building into a public safety facility.
Voters initially approved a $5 million plan for the facility in February 2019 but more than a year later, the committee overseeing the project determined an addition $2.2 million was needed.
On Thursday, residents voted to approve the use of $1.2 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency funds on the project, and to allow the town to borrow the remaining $985,000 needed. The vote was 1,254 to 1,058 in favor of using the FEMA money, and 1,184 to 1,112 in favor of the town borrowing more money.
The town learned in August that it would receive a nearly $2 million reimbursement from FEMA for money it spent in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene in 2011 and Superstorm Sandy in 2012. First Selectman Mark Nickerson has said it's unclear why it took so long for the town to receive the FEMA funds. The news came a month after the Board of Finance denied a request to bond the additional $2.2 million for the project.
With this final approval, “the next step is to get to under contract and start the renovations,” said Paul Dagle, president of the Public Safety Building Vision Committee.
The town already has spent $2.8 million to purchase the Honeywell building, which will bring the town's police force, dispatch center and fire marshal's office all under one roof. Plans also call for three holding cells, a sally port area and an elevator cab.
The town leases holding cell and evidence collection space from Waterford for approximately $46,000 annually because it does not have such space in the current police building on Main Street that the town leases from Millstone Power Station owner Dominion Energy for $1 a year. The aging building has significant flooding, mold and mildew issues.
Nickerson said Thursday’s vote solves the decades-old problem of the current building being inadequate.
“It was needed 20 years ago,” he said of the new space.
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