Future of old police station still left unknown

Twelve years after Dartmouth's old police station was abandoned after legionella bacteria, which can cause a severe type of pneumonia called Legionnaires' disease, was discovered in the building's plumbing, the fate of the building and the lot it's on is still uncertain.

Town Meeting voted in 2021 to approve the funds needed to demolish the police station and successfully removed an underground storage tank, though the project hit a standstill in 2023 when the Historical Commission voted to “preferably preserve” the building.

Now, the property is being used by the Environmental Protection Agency as a temporary location to store contaminated soil as part of its effort to clean up Bliss Corner.

The EPA started using the building in January 2023, and Town Administrator Cody Haddad said that he anticipates that the EPA may need it until 2029.

Last year, the town spent around $20,000 to keep the building up to fire safety codes, despite the fact that the building is abandoned. Haddad noted that even though the station is abandoned, it's still a building that needs to be compliant with fire safety codes.

Spending $20,000 on keeping the building up to code was also not a one-time cost, with Haddad noting that on average the town will likely have to spend between $10,000 to $30,000 on building upkeep every year.

"The Board needs to work toward making a decision of what we're going to do with the property because it is costing us money," he said.

Board member Chris O'Neil pointed out that in addition to maintenance expenses, the building itself is a liability.

"If we're not monitoring the property well enough and kids get in there and do something stupid, then they get hurt, and it's going to come back to the deepest pockets, which is us," he said.

At a Select Board meeting on Monday, April 27, Board members discussed the state of the building and some of the options that the town faces. These options include moving forward with demolition, selling the property and determining if there’s a way to redevelop the lot.

Select Board member David Tatelbaum said that he doesn’t “see a whole lot of rush to do much with the property,” citing the fact that the EPA is actively using it for cleaning up Bliss Corner.

“As long as EPA is there, which is another three years, it doesn’t seem prudent to do anything with it,” he said.

According to Haddad, the town also doesn’t have the authority to sell the property without being granted authorization by Town Meeting.

“While this isn’t a large parcel, we do not own a lot of developable land as a town,” he said. “It’s certainly not big enough for us to build a school or something, [but] our developable land is limited essentially to this parcel.”

Haddad said that the town has applied for grants through MassWorks and MassDevelopment to assess the building but hasn’t had much progress on this front.

He noted that the town has previously spoken with MassHousing about potentially converting the station into apartments but was told that the "renovation would outweight the benefit."

If the town were to demolish the building, it would also be required to request additional funds, as the money appropriated by Town Meeting in 2021 is no longer enough to cover the cost of demolition, Haddad said.

“Whatever is decided is certainly going to take some time,” he said.