Public Safety Building Moves Forward

CAPE MAY – Everyone seems to agree that the City of Cape May needs a new firehouse, and that the facilities housing the Police Department are deplorable. Agreement on the solution does not follow easily from agreement on the problem.
At its Feb. 5 work session, which Mayor Clarence Lear was unable to attend, Deputy Mayor Patricia Gray Hendricks chaired a discussion in which City Council’s newest members continued to express some concerns about locating a proposed shared public safety complex in the congested block that is currently home to the existing fire station and City Hall. 
History
The history of these discussions dates back to 2017 when the council appointed a Public Safety Building Advisory Committee (PSBAC) and asked it to consider the facilities’ needs of the city’s public safety departments. What followed were over 30 formal committee meetings which by one count spent 1,100 hours investigating and discussing the issue.
In March 2018, the PSBAC made its report to council. It recommended a shared complex for police, fire and other public safety departments on the site of and land adjacent to the existing firehouse. A bond ordinance was approved for preliminary expenses including a site survey and conceptual planning.
Efforts then turned to the development of a request for qualifications and proposals (RFQ/P) based on preliminary spatial programs and requirements produced in consultation with the committee. Fire Chief Alexander Coulter and Police Chief Anthony Marino were on the committee. The RFQ/P was issued in August 2018.
A total of eight proposals were received. Five firms were selected for presentations and interviews. The process resulted in a recommendation late in 2018 to utilize USA Architects.
Around the same time, the late Jerry Gaffney and Wister Dougherty, the chair and vice chair of the PSBAC respectively, shared with council their misgivings about the decision by the full committee to locate a single joint public safety complex on the site of the firehouse. Gaffney said that the plan was flawed because the space was simply not adequate to the task. The committee’s decision was favored by a majority of the members but did not have unanimous support.
Intervening in this process was the Nov. 6 municipal election that resulted in two new members of council, Zack Mullock and Stacey Sheehan. Both have expressed concern that the resulting complex will too severely impact parking in the area.
Mullock has raised concerns about proposed conversion of the Franklin Street School into a combination County Library branch and community center. He argued that council needs to know the full implications of developments planned for the municipal block to make an intelligent decision concerning the public safety building.
Sheehan has also raised questions about parking. At the work session, she added a concern that a 29,000-square-foot building would not fit architecturally in that area of town, potentially impacting surrounding home values.
Both Hendricks and Council member Shaine Meier supported moving forward with the recommendations of the PSBAC. 
Financing
Taxpayers who have spoken out at council meetings on the proposed complex have usually prefaced their remarks with recognition of the need for improved facilities. Their focus has been less on whether or not new facilities are needed and more on what the financial implications of any new building are for property taxes.
William Seeger asked for a detailed financing plan for the proposed building showing all hard and soft cost estimates, bond schedules that will be necessary to fund the project and a year-by-year projection of the impact of debt serving on property tax rates. City Manager Neil Young responded by reminding him that debt service is exempt from the 2 percent cap on property-tax calculations. 
Going Forward
By the end of the discussion a tentative schedule emerged for going forward. Hendricks reminded the public that the city has not moved away from the PSBAC majority recommendation that the complex be located in the municipal block.
The schedule calls for an award decision at the Feb. 19 council meeting. At this stage the award would be for the development of documents that would support a later bid process for construction of the building.
The process would consist of a 30-day programming and concept design phase, followed by schematic design and development of construction documents. This phase of the project is scheduled for completion by July 5.
Following a subsequent 90-day construction bid/award phase, construction should begin in October 2019. A 14-month construction phase is estimated with completion by December 2020. The proposed schedule calls for a certificate of occupancy to be issued by January 2021.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.