Wooding Caplan Lot work needs OK from PZC (permit for the work was never approved)

Special meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission Monday to be held in Town Hall at 7PM; the commission will discuss the Incentive Housing Zone as well as the work going on with respect to the Wooding Caplan Lot work as a needed permit for the work was apparently never pulled.

Here is the story as published in the Record Journal regarding the same.

WALLINGFORD - Wooding-Caplan lot project stalled

Many unhappy paving won’t be finished for Celebrate Wallingford, while others still think parking isn’t needed

As published in the Record Journal Sunday September 16, 2012

By Russell Blair
Record-Journal staff
rblair@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2225
Twitter:@RussellBlairRJ

WALLINGFORD - Work on a temporary municipal parking lot on the town-owned Wooding-Caplan property is stalled, but officials say they are confident, if permits come through, that construction will be completed before winter.

Town Engineer John Thompson said the town is still waiting for permits from the state Department of Transportation to begin work on the Wallace Avenue portion of the project. The town plans to create 100 parking spaces at a cost of about $200,000.

“We’re moving ahead but we’re not moving as fast as I would like,” Thompson said. “We’re pushing for the permits. The state knows it’s important to get this done.”

Thompson said town crews began a paving project on North Plains Industrial Road last Sunday and are storing the millings from that job to use for the temporary parking lot. Once the permits are approved, the work on the parking lot shouldn’t take too long, he said.

There are three aspects to the project: work to improve the parking lot surrounding the police station, which has already begun; the widening of Wallace Avenue into a standard, two-lane town road; and laying down millings to create a temporary lot with an expected lifespan of seven to 10 years.

Officials had hoped to have the lot done in time for Celebrate Wallingford, the two-day festival that will be held uptown this year, but that’s not likely to happen with the event three weeks away.

“Am I disappointed? Yes,” Republican Town Councilor John Le-Tourneau said. “Am I surprised? No. If this was a private entity, it would be done already, but because we’re a municipality we have to jump through so many hoops it’s incredible.”

Republican Town Councilor Craig Fishbein said it would be “a travesty” if the new lot is not done in time for Celebrate Wallingford.

“I think it stinks,” he said. “I brought this issue to the forefront in February with the intent of it being done quickly.”

Elizabeth Landow, the executive director of Wallingford Center Inc., the downtown business advocacy group, said she was told by town staff that the lot should be available during Celebrate Wallingford even if the project isn’t complete, but other arrangements have also been made.

“We hired a trolley and we’ll be using that to bring people from the parking lots at Doolittle Park and behind Brothers Restaurant,” she said. “But we’re keeping our fingers crossed that we can park cars [on Wooding-Caplan].”

LeTourneau and Fishbein believe the temporary lot will get heavy use because they say people are already parking there in its current condition: an unlighted patch of grass.

“Go on a Friday or Saturday night and look at the cars parked back there,” Le-Tourneau said.

In a letter to Mayor William W. Dickinson Jr., Landow said her organization supported the Wooding-Caplan project.

“Downtown revitalization, to which the town has historically committed so many resources, is at an important crossroad,” she wrote. “The proposal to install temporary parking in the Wooding Caplan area is a very positive step in continuing the process. ... Decent parking improves the downtown which is an asset of the entire town.”

Landow proposed additional improvements to the other town-owned lots downtown, including the repair and resurfacing of the pavement,striping, lighting improvements, better signage and landscaping.

But others have raised questions about whether there is a need for more parking. A 2004 study ordered by the Planning and Zoning Commission concluded that there was adequate parking in the downtown area but “customers must be willing to park in rear lots and walk up to a block to their destination.”

Among the recommendations included in the study was better advertising and a marketing plan for the parking that’s currently available.

“Education is also the key to convincing people that parking in a downtown might mean walking as far as a block to reach their destination, but that it is probably less walking than they do each week at the grocery store,” according to the study.

Democratic Town Councilor Jason Zandri agreed.

“I think we need a better outlining of public parking in the downtown,” he said. “There’s plenty of parking behind Town Hall. It’s not that far.”

“For some reason, a couple of blocks seems onerous,” Thompson said, noting that in larger cities such as Hartford or New Haven it’s common to park and walk a block or two.

Democratic Town Councilor Nicholas Economopoulos said he disagreed with the project from the start, believing the town should spend money on improving other downtown lots.

“I can’t see spending money on something temporary,” he said.

Economopoulos said he wasn’t surprised that substantial work on the project hadn’t begun. He noted that last year he had proposed creating a parking commission to develop a plan for downtown parking.

“It’s another example of a lack of planning and a lack of follow-through by our town,” Economopoulos said.

Photos by Christopher Zajac, courtesy of the Record-Journal

Parking lot work ready to start at Wooding-Caplan

As published in the Record Journal Thursday August 23, 2012

By Laurie Rich Salerno
Record-Journal staff
lsalerno@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2235
Twitter:@LaurieSalernoRJ

WALLINGFORD - The town is about to begin construction on a temporary parking lot at the Wooding-Caplan property and related improvements to the area, town officials said Wednesday.

Town Engineer John Thompson said work will begin in a few weeks on the first stage of the three-part project, which will eventually result in a 100-space parking lot on the town-owned Wooding-Caplan property. Officials would like to have the project done by the time Celebrate Wallingford takes place, on Oct. 6 and 7, but that depends on how construction proceeds, Thompson said.

The lot will provide what some say is much-needed parking.

“I’m very happy,” said Town Councilor John Sullivan, a Democrat. “Uptown needs more parking. Hopefully this will fit that need. As long as we can direct people to that lot, it is going to be a key to the success there.”

The land is near the center of town, behind buildings on North Main, Center, Academy, and North Elm streets. The project is expected to cost $200,000.

The Town Council approved the plans last spring after asking town staff to report on the feasibility of putting temporary parking on the Wooding-Caplan site. The request came after voters rejected a plan in November 2011 for the town to repair a privately owned lot behind Simpson Court.

The first stage will involve milling and resurfacing the parking lot behind the police station, which will be next to the new lot. The work will fix potholes and other breaks in the pavement, restripe the lot, and install new drainage, Thompson said.

The town selected R.P. Dalton Asphalt Paving, of Waterbury, to do the work on police lot, and Thompson said he expects work to begin in the next few weeks.

The rest of the work will be done by the town Public Works Department.

The second phase is widening and paving of Wallace Avenue, an alley that will serve as the access road to the new lot. Department of Transportation permits will likely be obtained in the next two weeks for the project, Thompson said.

The street is now about 12 feet wide, within a 50-foot public right of way. The final road will have two 13-foot lanes, one headed in and one out, with an added 8-foot parallel parking lane on the east side of the street.

“We’re constructing this Wallace Avenue Connection as though it’s going to be a town street,” Thompson said. That means digging up the road and moving some of the utilities — including water and sewer pipes under the street, which Thompson said may slow construction.

“Once you start digging, you never know what you’re going to encounter,” Thompson said.

The final road will have lighting and curbs. It is being constructed not only for the parking lot, but for any structures that may come after the parking lot.

The final stage will be creating the temporary parking lot itself. The Public Works Department will take millings gathered from a resurfacing project on North Plains Industrial Road and roll them out to create the lot surface. The lot is expected to last seven to 10 years. Construction on North Plains Industrial Road is set to begin in the next two weeks, Thompson said.

The surface will be more stable than gravel, but won’t be as permanent as pavement, said Public Works Director Henry McCully.

“It binds very solidly together,” McCully said.

The final lot will have lights and a sidewalk connecting it to Center Street. Initially there will be no time limit on parking there, Thompson said,but if cars are parked there for days, or other issues arise, the town may consider putting some regulations on the spaces.

Thompson said some residents of North Elm Street have raised concerns about flooding from the work. He said that after meeting with residents and investigating the property, it was discovered that there are drainage issues on the Wooding-Caplan site. The town will put in a drainage system that will collect groundwater and route it to Center Street so it doesn’t affect North Elm Street residents.

“We heard the comments from the residents — it was legitimate — and we’re using conventional engineering strategies to try and solve it,” Thompson said.

The Wooding-Caplan property was bought by the town in 1991 for $1.5 million. There have been many plans for the site, including a 2006 sale to a developer for condominium and commercial space that was rejected in a referendum, and as the location of a new $20 million police station that was explored in 2008 but not pursued.

As for the current plans, “the pieces are falling into place,” Thompson said.

WALLINGFORD - Parcel’s fate still fuel for debate

As published in the Record Journal, Monday January 2, 2012

By Russell Blair
Record-Journal staff
rblair@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2225

WALLINGFORD — Mayor William W. Dickinson Jr. said recently that construction of a new police station isn’t likely next year on the town-owned Wooding-Caplan property, and town councilors have differing opinions on the future of the parcel.

The town bought the 3.5acre property for $1.5 million in 1992, but it has remained largely vacant since. A referendum in 2006 overturned the Town Council’s decision to sell the property to a local developer.

In the five years since the referendum, the fate of the property has continued to be a hot topic. A space needs assessment conducted in 2008 determined that the parcel was big enough for a new 47,000square-foot police headquarters, but at a cost of more than $20 million. No action has been taken since.

“I don’t think the economy is in the condition to support a major project,” Dickinson said. “It’s unlikely this coming year.” But some councilors questioned the need for a police station downtown at a time when officers use vehicles rather than walking a beat, and most want to see action on the land, and soon.

Councilor John LeTourneau, a Republican, said he’s “totally against the police station” on the property, and would like to see it sold to a developer. In the meantime, he’s proposing the town work to create a temporary parking lot on the land. Craig Fishbein, a Republican, said he wants to see the new council take up the issue.

“It’s my intent to have Wooding-Caplan come before the Town Council very soon,” Fishbein said.

Fishbein said he’d like to see a panel study the property and come up with a proposal or “put it out to bid and sell it,” he said.

“I’d like to have the property developed in some manner,” Fishbein said. “I’d like to see the property added to the downtown. The time has come.”

Councilor Nicholas Economopoulos, a Democrat, in October had proposed a town wide Wooding-Caplan

commission, but it was never started. Economopoulos said this week he’d still like to see that commission created.

“We need to have some kind of committee brainstorm to see what they want to do,” he said.

Asked for his own proposal, Economopoulos said he’d like to see moderate housing there for “empty-nesters.”

“I’m close to being an empty-nester myself,” he said. “I’d like to be back downtown.” Democratic Councilor John Sullivan said the town must “fish or cut bait,” on the police station proposal.

“If it’s not going to be a police station, something needs to be done,” he said.

Sullivan said it was another example of the town “dragging its feet on a property,” and pointed to how long it took before action was taken on the building at 390 Center St., which the town bought in the early 1990s. It was finally demolished in 2008.

Jason Zandri, a Democrat elected in November, also wants to see Wooding-Caplan revisited. If the decision is made to locate the police station there, something Zandri said should be investigated further, the town should at least keep up the property better, he said.

“For far too long it has been left in a deteriorating state,” Zandri said. “We could do a little maintenance, put up some lights.”

Personally, Zandri said he’d like to see a park with a parking lot on the Wooding-Caplan property, but he’s open to all options and wants to get input from residents on what they’d like to see there. Zandri said that the 2006 referendum didn’t mean voters didn’t want the council to take action on the property, but rather that the proposal brought forward wasn’t something palatable.

“Don’t blame the voters,” he said. “The council never came back with anything else. They never sat down and discussed it again.”

Thomas Laffin, a Republican who will be sworn into the council on Monday, said the parcel has “sat long enough.”

“I want to see a plan,” he said. “If nothing right away, at least to know when.”

Laffin said he is open to the idea of a police station, but he is “partial to development” on the property. He added that he would like to see plans of either before he makes a decision, but ultimately wants some action taken.

“As long as we know where it’s going,” he said. “Right now, it’s just sitting.”

Parking question too late for vote on Nov. 8

As published in the Record Journal, Thursday September 15, 2011

By Robert Cyr
Record-Journal staff
rcyr@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2224

WALLINGFORD — Nov. 14 is the date a town-wide referendum will take place on the Town Council’s controversial decision to upgrade a private parking lot in return for public parking.

The council set the date late into its regular meeting Tuesday night. The referendum vote will likely cost more than $30,000.

Putting the referendum on Nov. 8 election ballot was not an option. The secretary of the state’s office would have needed to be contacted by Sept. 8, which was also the petition drive’s deadline, said Town Clerk Barbara Thompson.

“That was impossible from the start,” she said. “It’s not something we’ve ever done — we’re not familiar with how to do that.”

Voters will be asked to consider overturning the council’s Aug. 9 decision to make up to $500,000 in upgrades to a group lot behind four buildings along Simpson Court in return for 30 years of free public parking. Those opposing the council’s decision say town money should not be invested in private property.

Robert Gross, organizer of the petition drive to hold the referendum, said the Nov. 14 date likely won’t affect voter turnout.

Gross was also instrumental in a referendum on the town owned Wooding-Caplan property five years ago, a vote that was held during the summer, when most people were on vacation.

The town bought the 3.5acre Wooding-Caplan parcel in May 1992 for $1.5 million. In April 2006, the council voted to sell the property to local developer Joseph DiNatale for $409,000. Four months later, voters rejected the council’s decision 6,659-413.

“We wouldn’t have done it if we weren’t confident we’d get a good turnout,” Gross said Tuesday night. “We did it once before, and we’ll do it again.”

For the Simpson Court referendum, Gross and other volunteers, including Town Councilor Nicholas Economopoulos, collected far more than the 2,491 signatures needed, or 10 percent of registered voters in town. Thompson certified 2,634 names and had not counted about another 600 signatures.

At least 20 percent of registered voters must participate for the referendum to count.

The Nov. 14 vote will be held from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. at polling places in Lyman Hall’s Vo-Ag center, the Senior Center, and a third polling place at either Moran Middle School or Sheehan High School. Registrar of Voters Chester Miller said a decision on the school will be made in the coming days.

The cost of the referendum will likely exceed $30,000, he said.

“Things are more expensive than they were for the Wooding- Caplan vote,” he said. “We have to pay for things we didn’t have to before.”

Due to changes in election rules, the town now has to pick up the bill for paper ballots, and the 8,000 ballots Miller will probably order for the referendum could cost as much as $1 per ballot, he said. Add to that about $16,000 for staff to work the polls and custodial staff to keep the buildings open, and about $1,300 for memory cards for electronic voting machines, he said.

The town owns 20 electronic ballot-scanning machines, and nine are required for elections. A referendum vote on the same night as the general election would require another nine machines with staff for each unit and both personnel and back-up machines mandated by the state would be lacking, Miller said.

Other costs include setting up dedicated phone lines between election officials and making sure the different machines and polling booths are outside proscribed distances from each other, in separate rooms.

Each voting station requires separate tables for the ballot clerk, moderator, assistant registrar and official ballot checker, with a minimum of 36 square feet around each voting machine and 25 square feet around each voting booth, Miller said.

“Everybody thinks it’s clear cut, but it’s not,” he said.

Wallingford council vote reaffirms parking deal

As published in the Record Journal, Wednesday September 14, 2011

By Robert Cyr
Record-Journal staff
rcyr@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2224

WALLINGFORD — In the face of an impending referendum, the Town Council stood by a controversial decision it made on Aug. 9 to enter into a 30-year lease agreement with property owners uptown that would allow the town to make upgrades to the lot in return for free public parking.

The deal was opposed by two councilors — Democrat Nicholas Economopoulos and Republican Craig Fishbein — and a petition to hold a referendum was started a day later by Robert Gross, who once ran for a seat on the council and who has previously started a successful petition drive.

Gross had until Sept. 8 to collect 2,491 signatures, or 10 percent of registered voters, to begin the referendum process. Gross, Economopoulos and a handful of other volunteers collected that amount outside grocery stores and at public events. Economopoulos said that most of the public agreed with his sentiment that town money should not be invested in private property.

“We’re going to open a can of worms if we don’t repeal this,” he said before the vote.

The council has 30 days after Sept. 8 to re­peal its decision.

The deal was pushed by three sets of property owners along Simpson Court who had been part of a year-to-year lease agreement set up in 1961. Under the recent agreement, the town will also provide maintenance, including snow plowing. The intent is to create a safer, more attractive parking lot that will continue to provide an alternative to the often- crowded parking area in front of the Simpson Court businesses.

The council approved spending up to $500,000 on improvements to the lot, including paving and lighting, as part of Mayor William W. Dickinson Jr.’s 2011-12 budget, passed earlier this year. The money would come out of the capital non-recurring fund made up of revenue from the Electric Division.

Fishbein pointed to the controversial Wooding-Kaplan property, a town-owned, undeveloped property also in the uptown area, and said that could be used for parking.

“I would rather see us deal with that situation,” he said.

Councilor John LeTourneau, owner of Wallingford Lamp and Shade on Center Street, said the spending cap of a half million dollars will likely be a high estimate for the work that has been discussed.
“It could be much cheaper than that — it’s not written in stone,” he said. “We have to have a clean, vibrant, well-lit area to attract businesses. How can we ever think of wooing a business when our downtown doesn’t look good? It’s our front yard.”

According to the Town Charter, once 10 percent of registered voters have signed a petition and those names have been verified by the Town Clerk, the council has 30 days to reverse its decision. Barring that, the issue goes before the public and a vote must take place within 60 days. A majority of 20 percent of the registered voters in town must vote to repeal the council decision.

“If we changed our minds based on a portion, that would be a disservice to everybody else,” said Councilor Vincent Testa. “I’m not changing my vote. I want to see this referendum happen, and have it be the will of the people.”

Resident Geno Zandri told the council that he personally collected more than 1,000 signatures and felt the common sentiment would prevail in the referendum to reverse the council’s decision.
“If I could have assembled every registered voter in the town of Wallingford, 90 percent of them would have signed that petition,” he said. “The public doesn’t want you to do it.”

Frederick Ulbrich, owner of 60 N. Main St. for the past 9 years, said Wallingford “needs and deserves” a good parking lot uptown. Ulbrich is not a part of the recent agreement, although his lot, now up for sale, abuts the buildings and lot in the lease.

“You don’t know what’s going to happen to that property in 30 years,” he said. “You are really taking action on the future of Wallingford. The town has a great deal.”

Gross said he started the petition drive with the confidence that he could get the roughly 5,000 votes needed at referendum to overturn the council’s decision.

“We’ll get the votes, and it will be a good example of democracy in action,” he said

Small says Wallingford isn't on hook for $500,000

As published in the Record Journal, Tuesday August 23, 2011
By Robert Cyr
Record-Journal staff
rcyr@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2224

WALLINGFORD - A petition drive seeking to stop the town from spending a half-million dollars on improvements to a privately owned parking lot could harm the town's ability to use the space for municipal parking while still leaving it responsible for maintenance, officials say.    
The Town Council recently approved a 30-year agreement with three property owners allowing the town to make repairs as needed to the group lot behind four uptown businesses on Simpson Court and North Main Street in exchange for the lot remaining open for free public parking.

The agreement, written by former Corporation Counsel Adam Mantzaris, updates a three-decade-long version of a year-to-year lease the town has had with varying configurations of property owners since 1961, said Town Attorney Janis Small.

If the petition is successful and the new lease is defeated at referendum, the town and property owners would revert back to the year-to-year lease, leaving the town responsible for maintenance, but without the same guarantees. Any party can back out of the year-to-year agreement at any time.

The council approved the updated lease agreement, but with dissent from two of its members, who said using public money to fix private property was a bad decision. A day later, Robert Gross began a petition drive to overturn the council's decision at referendum. As of Friday, Gross had collected 1,400 signatures, more than half the 2,491 he needs by Sept. 8.

"The whole purpose of getting the lease is so the town could justify making an investment," Small said. "It would be up to the property owners to decide if they want to continue with the status quo."

The council approved spending up to $500,000 on improvements to the lot, including paving and lighting, as part of Mayor William W. Dickinson Jr.'s 2011-12 budget, passed earlier this year. The money would come out of the capital non-recurring fund made up of revenue from the Electric Division.

Small said the lease agreement contains no dollar amounts or spending stipulations and that it simply gives the town the option to make improvements as needed. The capital earmark and the agreement are two separate issues, she said.

"It was drafted in that manner so we wouldn't be in a position where the property owners dictate each and every thing the town did," she said. "There's this idea that the town is committed to spend that amount of money, but there's no such thing."

Councilor Nicholas Economopoulos, a Democrat, voted against the lease and has been helping Gross and others collect signatures around town. He said his decision wasn't made along party lines and that the money could be better spent elsewhere.

"I wanted to be my own person on this one and I feel very strongly about this," he said.

Councilor John Sullivan, also a Democrat, was not present at the council meeting when the vote took place. He said he would have supported the lease, however, because there's no contractual language forcing the town to spend all of the money it has already voted to put aside for lot repairs.

"The jury's out as to how much we're going to put into the property," he said. "The key to this lease is the language that states the town may make improvements. I understand some people feel we are making an improvement on property we don't own. But 30 years is a long time. But if that referendum changes the decision, this could cripple the downtown area."

Like Economopoulos, Town Councilor Craig Fishbein voted against the lease, but worried that a referendum could have negative consequences.

"Let's say there's no lease because the referendum is successful, but it doesn't challenge the expenditure," said Fishbein, a Republican. "Does the referendum address that at all? They're just challenging the lease. We'd still have that money we voted to spend on the lot."

Comptroller James Bowes was not available for comment.

Gross, who has set up an email address for his petition drive at parking500k@aol.com, said the money approved for the lot could be reassigned to other projects in town, such as fixing school buildings and the Parks and Recreation Department building.

"In this economy," he said, "it's just too much to spend on private property."

FROM WALLINGFORD - It’s your town

As originially published online at MyRecordJournal.com and in the Sunday Record Journal print edition on January 3, 2010

There was a lot of activity in Wallingford over the course of 2009.

Updating the town website in compliance with House Bill No. 6502, parking issues on Center and Main streets and downtown in general, dredging project at Mackenzie Reservoir, to name just a few - there was a lot on Wallingford's plate at the beginning of the year.

The 2009 budget came along with work on the Reskin Drive bridge (which is still not completed, much to the chagrin of the residents in the area).

There was the cease-and-desist order given regarding the publishing to the web of the Government TV-produced-programs in April which included Town Council and other public meetings, despite the purchase of brand new remote-controlled cameras in the Town Council Chambers.

Charter Revision hearings were held and the finished topics were given some input from the council and the people. The final questions were delivered to the electorate where they were effectively summarily dismissed by the voters that turned out.

While it was one of the lowest voter turnouts in recent history for a local election, the ones that did come out spoke loudly - "steady as she goes on the charter; we are content with the governing playbook for the town."

Regardless of whether it was low turnout, charter revision questions, lack of a Democrat candidate for mayor or the fact that it was partly cloudy - voters changed the makeup of both the Town Council and the Board of Education for the next two years.

So, where are we headed for 2010?

Unfinished issues, such as the Choate proposal to build the Environmental Center and asking for the closure of Old Durham Road, will likely resurface.

Issues with downtown are still open for discussion and action - from the parking situation which hasn't gotten any better to the new overlay district being proposed.

There is the issue with the Police Department's needs for expansion. This will not occur this year; it needs further discussion because actions need to take place ahead of any proposed work.

Is the Wooding-Caplan property to be used for this cause, or another piece of property elsewhere?

If another property is chosen, you still have to address "what do we do with Wooding-Caplan"?

Budget season will be on us a lot faster than most would like, and with the education portion of the budget greater than 60 percent of the entire budget, it is going to be a difficult pill to swallow.

Wallingford will have to deal with local taxes in conjunction with less available state funding for prior programs.

How the upcoming revaluation will affect the mill rate and whether it impacts homeowners or businesses equally or throws one out of the current alignment with the other remains to be seen.

Wallingford has famously worked to budget to a certain degree the expected spend for the year and tries to hold that line, sometimes cutting back or out something to keep from going into the red.

The taxes need to be collected in order for spend to occur; this is going to be a big challenge this upcoming year, unlike anything Wallingford has seen in recent memory.

There are a lot of other things that are going to be coming up over the course of the year that I don't have the space to present.

Your say of what is to happen with your town didn't end at the voting booth this past November - it was just the start.

Make sure you stay informed and engaged all year. Make it a point to have your voice heard either to your representatives or through them. Have them base decisions which are representative of what you want. Do not have them make the decisions for you.

It's your town - get informed, get involved.

Technorati Tags: FROM WALLINGFORD,charter revision,election,taxes,revenue,Wallingford,Wooding-Caplan

POLL CLOSED - How should the Wallingford Town Council move on the Police Station

Make a decision to move forward with the new construction on the Wooding-Caplan parcel but delay until after 2011

Make a decision to move forward with the construction of a satellite station or a precinct on the Wooding-Caplan parcel but delay until after 2011

Make a decision to move forward with the new construction on the Wooding-Caplan parcel in the next year to take advantage of cost savings

Make a decision to move forward with the construction of a satellite station or a precinct on the Wooding-Caplan parcel in the next year to take advantage of cost savings

Make a decision to revisit in three years to reassess the needs again

While this is no where near a scientific poll with just 11 respondents we can see that the majority of the people (10 of the 11 voters) chose “Make a decision to revisit in three years to reassess the needs again”

Only one person chose “Make a decision to move forward with the construction of a satellite station or a precinct on the Wooding-Caplan parcel but delay until after 2011”

Technorati Tags: Wallingford,Police Station,Wooding-Caplan,taxes

POLICE STATION FEASIBILITY STUDY NOVEMBER 2009

Report Prepared by Jacunski Humes Architects – DOWNLOAD PDF (8.71 MB file – please allow some time for the download).

Wallingford Police Department Request for Proposal (RFP without appendix) – DOWNLOAD PDF

Police Chief's Report to Mayor April 2007 – DOWNLOAD PDF

Technorati Tags: Police Station,Wooding-Caplan,Town Council

Wallingford Police Station needs assessment discussed at Council Meeting

The second to last item on the council agenda this week was the report out on the Police Station needs assessment and the possibility of building the new station on the Wooding-Caplan property.

Dave Moran from the Record Journal posted an article Humes gives Wallingford council final station report, advising against expansion on MyRecordJournal.com with all the details.

Click on the image to enlarge

The short summary:

• Jacunski Humes Architects of Berlin hired study the possibilities
• Expand the 28,117-square-foot station at 135 N. Main St
• Build a new structure on the Wooding-Caplan property.
• The Police Department's needs through 2030
• 47,000 square foot station
• 150 parking spaces
• The report estimates that a new station on the Wooding-Caplan parcel would cost the town $20.25 million, if construction were to begin next spring
• The price tag jumps to $23.69 million, if it were to begin in 2014, taking into account inflation of material and construction costs.
• Police Chief Douglas Dortenzio indicted that construction completion and occupancy would be three years from the start date
  

So bloggers – what are your thoughts?

The Chief indicated there is no practical way to manage a satellite station or a precinct in a town like Wallingford with a smaller population than a city like Hartford or New Haven. Do you agree with this?

The comment was also made that the current station is at its capacity and has "no growth room."

The Chief commented that the issue of an adequate facility for the Police Department versus the town's ability to pay for it is a question of priorities.

What should the town’s priorities be in this situation?

Should we defer construction for down the road when we might be in a better position to pay for it knowing that it will be more expensive or should we tighten that belt a little more and get started with the project while its a buyers market as far as construction, materials and labor goes?

Technorati Tags: budget,Police Station,council,taxes,Wooding-Caplan

Wallingford Town Council meets Tuesday

From the Record Journal’s Latest Headlines

WALLINGFORD - The Wallingford Town Council is scheduled to meet Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. in the Robert Earley Auditorium of Town Hall, 45 S. Main St.

In addition to a public question and answer period, the agenda includes an item to accept more than $3 million in grant money through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to be applied to the School System's operating budget and a review of the final report regarding the Police Station Feasibility Study.

The town commissioned the architect firm of Jacunski Humes in June of 2008 for $67,000 to study the feasibility of either expanding the existing police station at 135 N. Main St. or building a new structure on the Wooding-Caplan property, a 3.5 acre parcel the town purchased in 1992 for $1.5 million.

In the final report, filed last week with the town, Brian W. Humes, a partner in the firm, advises against attempting to expand the existing station. Humes estimates a new 47,000-square foot station on the Wooding-Caplan parcel would cost the town anywhere from $20.25 million, if construction were to begin in the spring of 2010, to $23.69 million, if construction took place in 2014.

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