New Police Building Design, Proposed Location Unveiled

STONE HARBOR – Several members of the borough Police Department attended a presentation to borough council Aug. 18 by OSK Design Partners on the proposed location for the new police building. The firm was engaged to consider options to either renovate or replace the current police building and to evaluate potential locations.  
The discussions concerning the police building have been ongoing for over five years.
After much discussion in the borough’s Public Safety Committee, discussion during which Council member Albert Carusi, who chairs the committee, said “everyone gave and everyone gained,” the winning location was the parking lot adjacent to the Municipal Building between 95th and 96th streets.
Architectural renderings displayed a compact but modern structure still centrally located in the borough.
Designs show a two-story structure with enclosed vehicle storage space in the rear. Police file storage would remain in the existing municipal building with a connecting corridor between it and the new building.
Police operations will be the focus of the first floor space including the squad room, interview space, holding cells, and break and locker facilities. The second floor will be largely for administration and conference room space.
A number of residents spoke in support of the plan during the public comment period. 
The borough is seeing action on two long-desired projects, the replacement of the current police facility and the construction of a new library.
Dredging
In March council approved a bond issue for funds to support its effort at dredging in the bay area. A request for bids went out and responses were required by Aug. 4.
The result of that process was a new awareness of the cost involved in the dredging initiative. The borough had not appropriated enough money given the bids received.
Initial engineering estimates had led the borough to allocate $6 million for a task that is expected to cost around $11 million.
The borough council introduced a new bond ordinance for the additional sums required at its Aug. 18 meeting.
It also adopted an emergency appropriation for $250,000 as an addition to the required down payment. 
The borough has been planning the dredging project for some time. Facing the same limitations that extended Avalon’s dredging initiative into a multiyear effort; Stone Harbor expects the project will need to span two years. State rules limit dredging to the period between September and Dec. 31 each year.
Dewatering Contention
One area of some potential contention is the location of the dewatering facility for the project which will be at the 80th and 81st streets Marina parking area. Property owners have expressed concerns that the borough will address at a meeting Aug. 21 at 6 p.m. Plans also exist to have a more general meeting with borough residents focused on how they can participate in the dredging with respect to individual slips, but that meeting will not be scheduled until the contract is awarded.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.