Lanesborough Police Station Committee Considering Temporary Site
LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — The Police Station Committee is strongly considering a property at 545 South Main St. a site for a temporary police station, as plans for the new station are being discussed.
Members of the committee have already conducted a visit to the site and will be doing another this week. The committee said, if chosen and approved, the site would not need significant work to become a temporary station.
Board Chair Kristen Tool said getting the Police Department out of the current building is a priority. She argued the committee must find a temporary station, regardless of what the town decides with the new and current ones.
"The first priority is getting everybody out of that garbage building and into the temporary place as soon as possible," she said. "And then we'll be able to really look at the [8 Prospect St.] site and see what we can figure out for it."
Police Chief Robert Derksen said he is in the process of getting an alarm and camera system figured out for a temporary location. He said moving the internet to a new building will be handled by the state, which provides police departments a secure router with access to the criminal database.
"There's no fee associated with that. The state provides a tech that will move the equipment, but there shouldn't be any cost to the town," he said.
Tool said she has reached out to Williams College about possibly getting donated furniture for the temporary location.
"We'll be able to get desks and things and not have to move the old desks from the old building," she said. "I'm talking with someone at Williams this week to see what we can figure out from there."
The board also discussed potential questions for Brian Humes of Jacunski & Humes Architects, who will be meeting with the committee on Thursday via Zoom. The committee discussed several issues with the 8 Prospect St. site that the committee will have to consider and ask Humes about, such as its size and parking.
Tool said it is ultimately the community's decision at town meeting whether the new station is at 8 Prospect or not. She said she hopes Humes can clear up any questions the board may have on Thursday.
"I think it is important, on top of our own personal opinions, to consider what community members are saying and what Brian Humes is saying; he is a professional, and John Goerlach," she said. "They've already said that there's going to be challenges on the site. Because of the size of it, because of the hill. There are already challenges now in the smaller building."
Tool said she has asked Humes previously how difficult it would be to put one of the previously proposed designs at a different location, and he told her it would be simple.
"He said that it's just so easy, it's so easy to do that. So that works is already done. So we wouldn't have to be designing a whole new building. We can use one of the two that are already proposed," she said.
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