Finance Committee supports studying the old police station’s reuse

The ongoing debate of whether to demolish or reuse the vacant police station on Russells Mills Road took another turn Thursday night when the Finance Committee passed a motion to write a letter in support of studying the station’s reuse.

The letter, to be written by Finance Committee board member John Sousa, will express the Finance Committee’s support for launching a study into whether the station can be renewed. That letter will be addressed to the Select Board.

The new action comes the same week that a motion to move forward with the study failed to pass with a 2-2 vote at the Select Board’s Dec. 11 meeting.

The finance committee’s letter will specify that the study should not exceed $46,000, which is the amount Assistant Town Administrator Chris Vitale said the study would cost.

The police station, built in 1926, was abandoned in 2014 after legionella bacteria, which can cause a severe type of pneumonia known as Legionnaires’ disease, was discovered in the plumbing. 

Sousa said “it would be a shame” to demolish the police station if there’s the potential that the building could be useful later on. As for the police station’s health concerns, Sousa said the study will determine whether it is cheaper to reuse the building or tear it down.

“There’s an engineering solution to every problem when it comes to a structure,” Sousa said, referencing the building’s health risks and poor foundation. “It’s just how much it’s going to cost.”

Sousa said that if left standing, the police station could be a valuable asset to the town and could possibly serve as affordable housing. There have been suggestions that the Town sell the property, but Sousa thinks that letting go of the property would be a mistake.

“I think the town should never sell an asset. We should always keep an asset,” he said. “The building needs work, but if we can find money to stabilize the building and hold onto it until we can find a repurpose, I think we should do that.”

Finance Committee Vice Chairperson Janine Simmons agreed.

“I personally am not an advocate of selling town assets because we don’t own a lot of land,” Simmons said.

Speaking before the Finance Committee, Susan Guiducci, a member of the Historical Commission, presented her argument for reusing the police station. 

“To reuse it is better than demolishing it and creating a parking lot. And we need affordable housing,” Guiducci said, adding that the station could possibly fit 10 to 12 apartments.

Guiducci said the Historical Commission would need an additional six months to a year to explore alternatives to demolition.

“We need to delay the demolition,” she said. “We need to take the time to have a proper environmental and structural assessment. And if those reports look good, then we’ll move onto the next step of bringing in a developer.”

At its Dec. 11 meeting, the Select Board instructed the town’s attorney to sort out the timeline of events that affects the historical commission’s legal right to contest the old police station’s demolition. 

The Select Board will meet next on Jan. 8.