Community members provided their input on the final sites selected for the new location of the City's police station at the Police Facility Task Force's public meeting Tuesday night.
Businessman Vito Gautieri favored the Alva Place parking lot location, one of the final sites for the new police station.
"Alva can be made into a beautiful site," Gautieri said. "You could combine that site with the mall site. Alva should be your first consideration because you own it."
In response to Gautieri, Marc Staley, chairperson of the Task Force, said you have to consider the businesses that share the lot and the disruption the police station may cause. If the police station was built there, Staley feared businesses would relocate.
Rose Mary Christian, city council member, preferred the 35 Swan St. location, the other final site for the new police station. Christian stated the site would be the best location because it's larger and has the possibility of commercial development.
Other community members had concerns not directly related to the two final sites.
Charles Ruffino, former county legislature member, expressed his concern for the future of the new police station as a whole and its cost effectiveness. Ruffino believed the task force should consider a location where the City of Batavia Police Department could share services with the Genesee County Sheriff's Office.
"If you wanted a police station stand-alone, you could design a building adjacent, nearby or connected in some way with the County Sheriff," Ruffino said. "If in the future you want to have a combined public safety type of operation that serves the whole county, then you're in business. However, if you build something far away and it costs $12 to $14 million then you're out of luck."
Diane Kastenbaum, vice president of the Genesee County Landmark Society, was interested in the future of the current police station. Kastenbaum wanted to make sure the facility wouldn't be destroyed if it was sold. In response, the Task force agreed to include her concern when they submit their recommendation to City Council.
The Task Force, composed of eight committee members, has been meeting monthly since December to evaluate potential sites for the new police station. The committee developed a set of criteria to rank each site. Some of the criteria included if the location provided good proximity to Downtown, adequate parking and sufficient security for police vehicles. They started out analyzing 12 possible locations and have narrowed it down to Alva Place and Swan Street.
The cost for a new station is approximately $10 to $12 million. Due to the poor condition of the current station, it would cost less money to build a new station than to renovate the current one.
Moving forward, the Task Force will meet one more time before submitting its recommendation for the new police station site to City Council.
I think the state street site
I think the state street site is the best location for a new police station because it's downtown between ellicott & main street so they can easily get to wherever they need to go. Plus they'll have plenty of room for future expansion. The alva place parking lot is a bad location because most of the time when i drive past it it's normally full of cars so if the city chose that site all of the local business won't have parking anymore & would move, probably out of the city which would be very bad for the local economy. I think the risk of hurting the local economy should be enough to take the alva place parking lot out of consideration. The salvation army site should already be out of consideration because it will make everybody's flood insurance go up & it's already to expensive for most people.
Do you mean Swan St.? If so,
Do you mean Swan St.? If so, I agree
I'd like Ms Christian to
I'd like Ms Christian to explain, what the heck commercial development has to do with the location of a new city police station???
I'd like Ms Kastenbaum to explain, what the heck the future of the defunct police station has to do with the location of a new city police station???
And, as for the suggestion of locating the new police department next to the new Sheriff's building... well the prospect of a merger of services between the city and county policing is enticing from a cost savings point. But I have strong reservations against this type of merger. Years ago I read some of the writings of retired Col. Archibald Roberts < http://nwda.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv21878 > and his main thesis was the need to keep power from being "regionalized". Segmented units of governmental was critical to guard against the centralization of government control, which was not only unConstitutional, but a grave danger to the separation of powers, and the freedoms and liberty provided for and guaranteed by our Constitution. So instead of succumbing to the fairy tale of consolidation to cut cost... how about simply cutting spending! It's not a revenue problem we have... it's a spending problem. And who is responsible for that spending? That's where the problem lies.
Yes i meant to say Swan
Yes i meant to say Swan Street. Thanks for pointing out my spelling error.