Cumberland police HQ work to begin
Groundbreaking on long-awaited construction of new public safety complex will take place Oct. 26
CUMBERLAND – The town razed two homes and outbuildings at 1379 Diamond Hill Road and has now named a contractor, the Calson Corporation of Johnston, to begin work on its new Public Safety Complex at the 2.5-acre parcel across the street from the John J. Partington Public Safety Building.
Mayor William Murray said a groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled at the site for Oct. 26 and construction of the new building housing the Police Department, the town rescue service, and the fire department administration will follow immediately and continue through the winter.
“It’s cleared now and exactly the right site for this complex,” Murray said of the planned location of the new public safety facility. “We want to have this done by next September, 2018,” Murray added while noting the pending start-up of the project.
The Town Council approved the hiring of Calson under a contract totaling $11,341,479 for the main 22,000-square-foot building, a carport and an outbuilding and rear entrance garage, according to George Stansfield III, Murray’s chief of staff and a member of the six-member Public Safety Complex Building Committee.
Stansfield was less willing to pinpoint September as a finish date given the potential for winter construction complications but noted current plans are for the foundation work to be completed before hard winter arrives and the overall schedule targets late fall 2018 for the project’s finish.
“We will have our own project manager on board to oversee the project through December 1, 2018,” Stansfield noted.
The Public Safety Complex site was purchased for $650,000 after the owner, Donald Pasek of Attleboro, agreed to sell his property to the town. The selection of a site ended a lengthy review of other potential sites that had at one time
even included the use of a portion of the Cumberland Monastery property near Chapel Four Corners. Local opposition within the community eventually ruled out that option and after Murray took office in 2014, his administration considered other alternatives including potential sites near the Partington building.
One proposed option would have placed the new building behind the existing police station at 1380 Diamond Hill Road and North Garden Street and abutting the Garvin Elementary School property. The town would then have razed the old station as an added cost to the project. Ultimately that proposal was deemed insufficient for the town’s needs and the Pasek land ended up as a better option, according to Murray.
“This site fell into our lap and it couldn’t have worked out better,” Murray said.
The parcel is now cleared and fenced off and ready for the next phase of construction.
Murray said the approved contract with Calson will fall below the $12.5 million in bonding local voters have already approved for the construction of the new Public Safety Complex.
In addition to Stansfield, serving on the Building Committee for the complex are Mark Linden, chair, David Wayne Wagner, Brian McCourt, Police Chief John Desmarais, and Public Works Director Robert Anderson.