By Peter Barhydt and John Kriz
After many years of discussion, planning and construction, New Canaan’s police station on South Avenue is about to re-open. What was once old has becomes new again.
How We Got Here
New Canaan’s police station is in the century-old former high school building. Last refurbished in the 1980s, it had water leakage issues and functionality challenges. Something needed to be done. So in late 2020 the Board of Selectmen decided to create a Police Department Building Committee to take the lead and determine the best course of action, and follow through with it. Former Town Council Chairman Bill Walbert was appointed as chairman.
The first issues included ‘Where to put it?,’ ‘What sort of design?’ and ‘If we build a new police station elsewhere, what do we do with the old building?’
In the end, it was decided to keep the police station where it is, and to refurbish it from top to bottom – no small task.
Design and historic preservation issues were important to the Building Committee, stresses Mr. Walbert. (This is, after all, New Canaan.) As examples, the parts of the building most visible from South Avenue were to keep their classic appearance, just better. Thus new, insulated, water-tight windows were installed, with a long-lasting faux slate roof that, from a distance, looks like the real thing. For the public areas of the building, efforts to retain a classic feel were continued, but with functionality and cost (again, this is New Canaan) both in mind.
Says Mr. Walbert, “We worked very hard to maintain the 1920s architectural feel of the original building. So you’ll notice the light fixtures, the millwork, the bathrooms sort of recreate the 1920s look and feel of that kind of facility. And so that’s exciting and I think people will find it looks very good and they’ll be proud of that.”
Noting that “we don’t want the gold plate anything,” Mr. Walbert however emphasized that the communications, training and safety aspects of the building needed to be “top notch.” As well, the Building Committee wanted a facility that would stand the test of time.
The back third of the old building included the sally port (entry/exit for prisoners), cells and prisoner processing. Mr. Walbert said it was decided to “tear down the back third of the building” and construct a new, state-of-the-art facility to help ensure officer safety and that prisoners are treated properly. It was also decided to make this new section as architecturally sympathetic as possible to the old, original building.
As to sustainability features, the building’s improved insulation and water-tightness are substantial improvements. As well, should the town decide to invest in solar panels for the building, the infrastructure to support that has been put in place.
One feature that the refurbished police station does not have is a shooting range. It was decided that space for a proper facility just was not there. Cost was also a consideration, as were noise issues for neighbors. Mr. Walbert notes, however, that the State is considering building a shooting range in Newtown that would be available to local police departments.
The Cost
Municipal building projects like this are not cheap, and all totaled the refurbished, rebuilt police station cost the taxpayers of New Canaan around $30 million. Of this, around $20 million was for construction, and around $7 million was for ‘soft costs.’ This includes architectural and design work, as well as moving the police station to its temporary location on Locust Avenue and rental costs for that space. Other costs included items such as computers and office furniture.
Part of that $30 million was a $2 million ‘contingency fund’ to deal with unforeseen issues. Especially when dealing with an old building you can be surprised with what you find – and not in a good way. As well, vital equipment can be delayed, causing cost overruns.
In the case of the refurbished police station, half of the contingency fund – around $1 million – is being returned. Furthermore, the planned completion date of around Thanksgiving 2025 has been beat by five months. In sum: Ahead of schedule and under budget.
Reflecting on this substantial project, Mr. Walbert says “we foresaw those challenges and dealt with them,” going on to praise the joint work among the Building Committee, Police Department, Selectmen, Town Council, Board of Finance, Building Department in Town Hall and project manager.
Touring the ‘New’ Police HQ
The New Canaan Sentinel toured the refurbished facility to see firsthand what has been accomplished. Police Chief John DiFederico called it a “great job.” Speaking of the lobby, he noted “if anybody’s familiar with what our lobby used to look like, this is a dramatic improvement,” referring to it as better lit and much updated, going on to declare that “the rest of the building is likewise the same way.”
New Canaan’s all-volunteer Community Emergency Response Ream (CERT) will have an office in the refurbished police station, with space to store their equipment. They had been housed in Irwin House.
The 24/7 dispatch center is like the command center for the police department. New Cannan’s dispatcher is a sworn officer, whereas some towns have a civilian in the role. There are many screens there, with live video feeds from various locations around town, including parks and school exteriors.
The property room, where lost and found items, and evidence, are kept has been upgraded, with better shelving and plenty of room. There is also a firearms locker there to store use firearms turned in by residents who don’t want them anymore. Such firearms are then turned over to the State Police and destroyed.
The processing room is “like a mini forensic laboratory” with “some cool equipment” and new “state-of-the-art stuff.”
There are several locker rooms, serving different teams or genders, as well as a gym that’s “far better than what had.” The six cells are in the basement and are covered by cameras so officers can always know what’s going on.
The twelve marked and five unmarked police cars are kept behind the station when not in use.
Police Chief
During an exclusive New Canaan Sentinel interview regarding the refurbished station, Chief DiFederico summed it up this way: “It means everything. I’ve worked in this town for over 32 years and this building is finally a true, purpose-built police building. It was renovated back in 1981 and it was severely dated, but now it is a premier police facility.” Says Chief DiFederico, “it’s going to be great for us.”
The forensic lab and equipment “will be a great asset to the town and to the region. We will certainly open up to other departments if they want to help come in here and utilize some of our equipment, ” which, according to Chief DiFederico, “is going to definitely help our investigators.”
“The community response has been great,” notes Chief DiFederico. “Working with the building committee has been wonderful.”
But beyond that, Chief DiFederico stresses that “none of this has been behind the curtains and behind the scenes. This has all been out in the public and the community support has been overwhelming from day one, which is greatly appreciated. And now we can finally show the public what their money has gone to, and I think everybody’s going to be proud to see what the budget has gone to.”
And the officers’ reactions? “It’s been great. They can’t wait to get in here. They’re looking forward, like I said, to use the gym and get into the locker rooms and get moved in. We kind of had to hold them back a little bit today and say ‘Give us one more day.’ But they’re very excited to get back here, and I think once they get in here and start working out of here, they’ll be very appreciative and very overwhelmed with how great a facility it is.”
Chief DiFederico concluded by expressing “our sincere gratitude to the town and everybody that was involved in this process. It was very overwhelming to see the support and very appreciated, because this is something that our men and women really needed to have an updated, clean and healthy working environment. And for the services that they provide to the town, they absolutely deserve it. So I’m very glad to get our officers into this new state-of-the-art building, and very, very much appreciate all of the town support for that.”
Police personnel and equipment are now in process of moving back, with the ‘new’ police station fully operational on June 3. The official ribbon cutting is on June 4.
Peter Barhydt is the Editor in Chief of the New Canaan Sentinel. John J Kriz is 30+ year resident of New Canaan. Opinions expressed are their own.
