Post by onthejob on Dec 4, 2011 22:26:50 GMT -5
Bids due to replace Nassau 1st Precinct
December 4, 2011 by ROBERT BRODSKY / robert.brodsky@newsday.com
After years of delays, Nassau County is moving forward with plans to replace the dilapidated police First Precinct in Baldwin.
The three-story, 25,000- square-foot building will be located on the site of an antiques store, across the street from the existing Merrick Road precinct, and is expected to cost about $12 million.
Bids on the project are due Tuesday, and county officials say they anticipate significant interest. To date, 79 firms have paid for and received bid packages for the project, officials said.
"The conditions of the First Precinct presently are deplorable," said County Executive Edward Mangano. "This is about health and safety issues."
The new precinct comes as the police department braces for possible layoffs as Mangano seeks to close a $310-million deficit. County officials are considering closing two precincts, which have not been identified. The First Precinct, however, is one of the county's busiest and was not considered for closure, officials said.
Construction is expected to begin next summer, and will take roughly 18 months, said Mangano spokeswoman Katie Grilli-Robles.
For many local residents, replacing the 80-year-old precinct house cannot come soon enough.
"The place is in terrible condition," said Jacqueline Bell, president of the Baldwin Oaks Civic Association. "It's just horrible. There is no rehabilitating this precinct."
Police Benevolent Association president James Carver said the existing building, a former farmhouse, has mold along with structural, electrical and plumbing problems -- including toilets that flush only with hot water.
"They should have condemned that precinct years ago," Carver said. "This project is about a decade behind schedule."
The county will issue at least four contracts for the project, documents show, including general construction, plumbing, electrical and mechanical.
The first phase involves dead-ending Harrison Avenue at Merrick Road to combine the existing precinct and the new building. The contractor will then demolish the old antiques store, build a new precinct house and construct a parking lot for police and the public on the eastern and southern portions of the site. The existing precinct will be demolished, and the property converted for additional parking.
Replacement of the First Precinct would end a long and bumpy struggle for elected officials.
Former County Executive Thomas Suozzi sparked community outrage in 2005 when he suggested moving the precinct out of Baldwin. He later backed down.
Four years later, Suozzi and Legis. Joe Scannell (D-Baldwin) inked a 30-year lease to build a new station house in a half-closed strip mall on Grand Avenue. The deal, passed by the lame-duck Democratic County Legislature before Mangano's inauguration, would have cost Nassau $22.9 million in construction, rent and other expenses.
After taking office in January 2010, Mangano voided the agreement and that December the GOP-led legislature approved $1 million to purchase the antiques store.
The project -- the first new precinct built in Nassau since the 1970s -- will require approval of the Nassau Interim Finance Authority, a state monitoring board that controls the county's finances. A call to NIFA chairman Ronald Stack was not returned.
December 4, 2011 by ROBERT BRODSKY / robert.brodsky@newsday.com
After years of delays, Nassau County is moving forward with plans to replace the dilapidated police First Precinct in Baldwin.
The three-story, 25,000- square-foot building will be located on the site of an antiques store, across the street from the existing Merrick Road precinct, and is expected to cost about $12 million.
Bids on the project are due Tuesday, and county officials say they anticipate significant interest. To date, 79 firms have paid for and received bid packages for the project, officials said.
"The conditions of the First Precinct presently are deplorable," said County Executive Edward Mangano. "This is about health and safety issues."
The new precinct comes as the police department braces for possible layoffs as Mangano seeks to close a $310-million deficit. County officials are considering closing two precincts, which have not been identified. The First Precinct, however, is one of the county's busiest and was not considered for closure, officials said.
Construction is expected to begin next summer, and will take roughly 18 months, said Mangano spokeswoman Katie Grilli-Robles.
For many local residents, replacing the 80-year-old precinct house cannot come soon enough.
"The place is in terrible condition," said Jacqueline Bell, president of the Baldwin Oaks Civic Association. "It's just horrible. There is no rehabilitating this precinct."
Police Benevolent Association president James Carver said the existing building, a former farmhouse, has mold along with structural, electrical and plumbing problems -- including toilets that flush only with hot water.
"They should have condemned that precinct years ago," Carver said. "This project is about a decade behind schedule."
The county will issue at least four contracts for the project, documents show, including general construction, plumbing, electrical and mechanical.
The first phase involves dead-ending Harrison Avenue at Merrick Road to combine the existing precinct and the new building. The contractor will then demolish the old antiques store, build a new precinct house and construct a parking lot for police and the public on the eastern and southern portions of the site. The existing precinct will be demolished, and the property converted for additional parking.
Replacement of the First Precinct would end a long and bumpy struggle for elected officials.
Former County Executive Thomas Suozzi sparked community outrage in 2005 when he suggested moving the precinct out of Baldwin. He later backed down.
Four years later, Suozzi and Legis. Joe Scannell (D-Baldwin) inked a 30-year lease to build a new station house in a half-closed strip mall on Grand Avenue. The deal, passed by the lame-duck Democratic County Legislature before Mangano's inauguration, would have cost Nassau $22.9 million in construction, rent and other expenses.
After taking office in January 2010, Mangano voided the agreement and that December the GOP-led legislature approved $1 million to purchase the antiques store.
The project -- the first new precinct built in Nassau since the 1970s -- will require approval of the Nassau Interim Finance Authority, a state monitoring board that controls the county's finances. A call to NIFA chairman Ronald Stack was not returned.
