CAPE MAY – The City Council has awarded an $8.6 million contract to Ogren Construction of Vineland to build a new police station at the corner of Lafayette and St. Johns streets. Groundbreaking is expected in October.
The Police Department is currently split into two locations, the back end of City Hall, once the city’s high school, and a facility in West Cape May. Cape May police provide services to that borough through a shared services agreement.
There were difficulties in gaining the space for the new police station in what is the heart of the city. The site had undergone a long environmental cleanup by the utility JCP&L due to its historic use as a gas manufacturing plant.
The design of the new facility needed careful coordination with the city’s Historic Preservation Commission given its placement in the historic district. In addition, the land was part of the state’s Green Acres preservation program, and a land swap process was used to obtain the 0.14-acre site in exchange for 6.6 acres of city-owned land adjacent to the Sewell Tract.
The contract award Sept. 16 marks the fulfillment of a promise made in the 2020 general election, which won Zach Mullock the mayor’s chair.
A difference of approach to meeting the facility needs of public safety departments led then-council member Mullock to champion separate fire and police facilities, in opposition to the plan offered by then-Mayor Clarence Lear, who favored a combined public safety building on Franklin Street. The issue eventually went to a referendum; those who favored separate facilities won.
The new Fire Department building was first in line for construction, and it had its ribbon-cutting in November 2023.
After all of the delays, Mullock thanked the police officers for their patience, saying, “You deserve the best of the best, and this building really will be that.”
Contact the reporter, Vince Conti, at vconti@cmcherald.com.
