PZC passes town hall, station plan

Building panel now charged with approving design

EAST HAMPTON — The proposed new town hall/police station cleared another major hurdle Thursday when the Planning and Zoning Commission gave unanimous approval to the site plan for the $18 million project.

Town Manager Michael Maniscalco welcomed the news.

“With the P&Z approval, the project has passed another hurdle in the process. We are moving through the planning and development phase as efficiently and effectively as possible to keep the project on schedule and budget,” Maniscalco said in an email Friday morning.

A surveyor, architect and landscape architect all appeared before the P&Z to flesh out details of the project for the commission members. The proposed new municipal building will be built on a 5.4-acre parcel of land in the Edgewater Hills mixed-use development.

John U. Faulise, a surveyor with Boundaries of Griswold, said the building would be built on a 19,000square-foot footprint and would have 109 parking spaces, including four handicapped spaces and 13 designated spots for police cruisers. There would also be a fenced-in impound lot at the rear of the building for vehicles seized by the police.

The plan includes a 50,000-gallon underground water tank for fire suppression, Faulise said.

The initial design called for 20-footwide roads to serve the complex. However, in discussion with the town’s fire marshal, Faulise said the decision was made

“With the P&Z approval, the project has passed another hurdle in the process.” Michael Maniscalco, town manager

to expand the road width to 24 feet.

And at least initially, it was suggested there would be gates to block off a separate entrance for police and fire units. However, Faulise said that idea has been dropped. “From a traffic standpoint, it works better without gates.”

Police Chief Sean D. Cox had worked closely with the architects on the interior of the 10,000-square-foot police station, which will sit on western end of the building, closest to Route 66.

After Cox retired and left the town’s employ Jan. 1, Acting Police Chief Thomas Davoren offered some suggestions of his own about various details, said Chris Legiadre, a senior associate with the Hartford-based architectural firm Amenta Emma.

There will be no direct public access to the police station from town hall, Legiadre said. Instead, residents will have to go out of town hall and enter police headquarters through a separate exterior door.

The station will include a two-slot sally port and five cells, one designated for female or juvenile prisoners. Staff and police parking will be along the south and east sides of the building, while residents will park on a lot on the southwest corner of the building, Legiadre said.

A question arose about staff entry into the building. Legiadre said employees will have to walk around to the front of the building and enter through

the public entrance. That provoked a pointed response from George Pfaffenbach, the former town councilor and member of the town hall/police station building committee.

“That’s ridiculous,” Pfaffenbach said about the idea of staff trudging through rain or snow to get into the building. “Having them running like hell through the rain — that’s not going to fly.”

Appearing to have been caught off guard, Legiadre said, “Certainly that’s something we could look at. This hasn’t come up with the building committee.”

However, Maniscalco said Friday morning, an entrance in the rear for staff to use was always anticipated.

Commission member Rowland Rux raised the issue during the commission’s deliberations.

It was decided that ensuring there would be a rear entrance for staff use was “an ancillary change” that could be approved by staff, in the person of Planning and Zoning Official Jeremy DiCarle, rather than requiring a resubmission of the plan to the commission.

The town is in the design stage now and expects to complete that phase by mid-April, Maniscalco said Friday.

Once the building committee approves the design development proposal, the town can move on to prepare bid proposals and could begin construction in August or September, he said.

Reporter Jeff Mill covers East Hampton, Cromwell and Portland for the Middletown Press. Contact him at jeff.mill@hearstmediact.com.