Feasibility study reveals numerous deficiencies at Attleboro fire and police station | Local news

“We need a new police station,” Police Chief Kyle Heagney said in an email. “This is reality. The current police station is inadequate. We have exceeded our space requirements. The building is no longer usable. However, the city cannot afford to build a new police station, so I don’t know what the solution is. This problem has been created by poor planning over the last 30 years.”

Fire Chief Scott Lachance echoed the police chief’s sentiments, saying all fire stations are outdated.

“The headquarters is pretty much a disaster,” Lachance said. “We’re going to exceed the capacity that the city and residents expect. We definitely need another ambulance on the field, but I don’t have room to put it.”

He said call volume has doubled in the past 12 years and the department cannot keep up.

Lachance said the National Fire Protection Association must conduct a thorough analysis to determine what the department needs, an analysis that was not included in a feasibility study by Foxboro-based architectural firm Kaestle Boos Associates.

The $175,000 study includes a proposal for a new public safety headquarters that could house both departments. It is 320 pages long and was commissioned in 2022.

The estimated cost of a new fire and police headquarters would be over $150.2 million.

That price is likely to increase by $4 million for every year the project is delayed, KBA warned.

“In the existing police and fire department buildings, conditions in many of the operational and work rooms are extremely cramped…,” the report states.

“The original police building in the former Elks Hall is nearly 100 years old and the fire station on Union Street is over 100 years old and has practically exceeded its useful life for operations.”

The KBA found numerous violations of the regulations in both plants.

“These conditions expose both police and fire personnel to safety risks and the city to liability,” the report said.

The violations include, among others:

• From a structural point of view, the facilities do not meet current standards regarding earthquake, wind and gravity.
• The building envelopes do not comply with the newly introduced Energy Stretch Code.
• There is only one escape route from the second floor, although regulations require two.
• Existing stairs are not wide enough, the railings are too short and do not have balusters, the risers are too high, the treads are too short and the stairs do not have a fireproof casing.
• Sanitary facilities do not meet water protection requirements.
• The facilities are not wheelchair accessible.
• The air treatment system has exceeded its service life and needs to be replaced.
• The exchange of fresh air occurs to a non-compliant extent.
• Most systems – lighting, power, emergency lighting and fire alarm – no longer comply with legal regulations or safety standards.
• Emergency generators do not comply with regulations and do not have sufficient capacity to supply all building systems.
• There is no elevator to the upper or lower floors.
• Stairs are not handicapped accessible and do not offer any places to retreat.
• There are no public toilets. The public must use the existing staff toilet/shower/locker facilities which are not handicap accessible.

To minimize the building’s footprint, KBA developed a multi-story plan with a potential basement.

The police department’s space requirements analysis served as the basis for the organization of the individual floors. The basement houses training rooms, a shooting range and a fitness center, which can also be used by the fire department.

The main level would be used mostly for patrol duties and would include a detention area and sally port, men’s and women’s locker rooms, a training room and a patrol office.

The upper level would be reserved for administrative functions, command personnel, detectives and dispatchers.

By separating the police and fire departments and combining similar operational functions, the city can take advantage of redundancy and share functions such as training areas, conference rooms, operations areas and fitness areas, the report said.

Part of the facilities evaluation is to determine the feasibility of expanding or renovating the existing site or constructing a new facility on or near the site to meet the City’s public safety needs over the next 40 years.

The preferred location is 50 John Williams St., a former National Guard site owned by the federal government.

Mayor Cathleen DeSimone said the city may not be able to purchase the building until sometime in 2026.

“I realize that we will probably not have any significant news on this matter until early 2026,” she said in an email.

“Our application for transfer for public benefit is pending with the Army Reserve Office and we are grateful to Senator Markey for his support in our ongoing efforts to acquire the property.”

A “nonprofit transfer” occurs when the federal government deems it necessary to transfer a property to a city, municipality or state without offering it to other entities in order to expedite the process.

The second preferred location is on Union Street, where the fire station is currently located. This also includes the Richardson School property.

It was concluded that this site would be viable once the existing fire station and school were demolished.

It offers multiple access points, has no wetlands, is visible to the public, has minimal impact on current traffic flow, and is relatively level.