Future of city’s old police site on hold until November

STAMFORD — After two relatively silent public hearings, intricate discussion and months of work, a Board of Representatives subcommittee has yet to reach a verdict on the future of Stamford’s blighted former police headquarters on Hoyt Street.

Now, any decision about the property won’t be made until after the November election.

Operations members attempted to gauge public support on the parcel’s future, but the public hearings drew nary a crowd.

At the first hearing, three members of Stamford’s emergency services division advocated publicaly for creating an updated headquarters for first responders, an idea first surfaced by city Rep. Nina Sherwood, D-8. No other ideas or opinions emerged from the public during the month-long exploration period.

One apparent road block to making a decision appeared to be the upcoming municipal election. Current Mayor David Martin lost to state Rep. Caroline Simmons, D-144, who will face unaffiliated candidate Bobby Valentine in November.

Martin’s original resolution established that his administration would follow any recommendation set by the board as of Nov. 1. The timeline proved to be a sticking point in the discussions.

“It's entirely within the discretion of whoever the next mayor is to say, ‘Oh, well, I respect that and I'm going to go forward with it,’ but that remains to be seen,” Operations Committee Chairman Rep. Jonathan Jacobson, D-12, on Wednesday told The Stamford Advocate.

Without much public input to guide the discussion, the operations committee spent much of its Sept. 28 meeting debating whether or not it should make a recommendation at all, as the full board would dissect the matter further.

By a narrow margin — 5-4 — Operations voted to not make a recommendation on the police station site. Thanks to an extension from Martin, the full board will make a decision on the parcel’s fate at its Nov. 3 meeting — the day after the election.