By Laura Hayes, Contributing Writer
SHREWSBURY — The effort to build a new building for the Shrewsbury Police Department is moving forward after the Planning Board recently greenlit plans.
The site plans were unanimously approved by the board during its June 17 meeting.
“Great work,” said Planning Board Chair Steven Boulay after the vote.
Last fall, Shrewsbury voters approved a $42 million debt exclusion which would fund repairs, replace the town’s public safety radio system and build a new police station.
Dan DeLany, who is a Regional Office Manager for the civil engineering firm Fuss & O’Neill, said the police will work in their old building during construction.
The new station, which is just over 31,000 square feet and nearly double the footprint of the department’s current home, will be built on the same Maple Avenue town campus that houses the old station, Town Hall and the Senior Center.
The new station will be constructed to the north and west of the current station.
The old police station will be demolished, and a parking lot will be built. A total of 104 parking spaces will be added to the town campus.
Project architect Matthew Salad estimated that the old station would be demolished in Feb. 2023.
During past meetings, project managers said the architecture of the new police station would complement nearby Town Hall.
There will also be a private police parking lot with a new entrance off Maple Avenue. That lot will be fenced in and accessible with an access card.
Additionally, the main entrance to the town campus will be moved to the west. During previous meetings, the project managers had said that the current entrance will be turned into walking paths near Shrewsbury’s existing veterans memorial.
A second memorial will be constructed near the training room in the new police building.
During an earlier Planning Board meeting on June 3, architects and engineers presented revised plans for the new station, mainly noting changes to its stormwater system.
According to DeLany, the shape of one of the basins was changed to move it away from nearby wetlands and increased a berm’s width around another basin so it would be able to accommodate equipment if it needed to be cleaned.
The project will also add an underground stormwater retention basin under the parking lot between the police station and town hall, as well as another retention basin.
DeLany said those additions will help with flooding.
“It’s definitely an improvement over what’s there,” he said. “Anecdotally, … I know there’s flooding on a yearly basis, if not more.”
Assistant Town Manager Kristen Las indicated in a recent message to the Community Advocate that site work on the new police station will start this month.
