Above: Yesterday, the Public Safety Building received the certificate allowing occupancy. But don’t expect firefighters to make regular use of the pole just yet. The building won’t be ready for personnel to move in for a few more weeks. (images from July progress report.)
Yesterday was the deadline for the Public Safety Building’s “substantial completion”. The Town has confirmed that goal was reached.
The July progress report was recently released. It designated the project as 95% complete at the end of last month. The only issue of concern was whether the August 13th deadline would be met. Today’s update was that the threshold was met with the Certificate of Occupancy received.
That doesn’t mean that personnel have relocated. There is still a “punch list” of items that need to be completed inside, plus landscaping. To minimize disruption, the police and fire departments will wait to make their big moves in early September. There will be an announcement to the public when that happens.
The original press release on August 14th included that the departments would combine an Opening Ceremony with their annual honoring of the first responders who died on 9/11. (As you may recall, the Fire and Police memorial has been relocated to the new facility.)
An updated release separates the two events. The Opening Ceremony will take place on September 9th.*
The ceremony won’t include tours. Those will wait until the October 26th Open House.
Below is the press release with more details. But first, I want to address a concern that was raised to me about the facility. . . the driveways. Some of you may have wondered when driving by if the driveways have sharper turns than make sense for the big trucks. It turns out, that its a matter of perspective.
From the base of the drive, I questioned whether the driveways matched the approved plans. Being told they did, I went back and walked the driveways. On-site, I could see that the curves appeared much more navigable.
Below are my pictures and comparisons from two weeks ago. The first perspective was from across the street vs the plans. The second was from on-site:
Speaking of the driveways. . . The paving to connect the driveway to the Woodward School drive is in process. Public Works Superintendent Karen Galligan tells me it will be complete before the start of school.
Now here’s the Town’s press release:
The Public Safety Building Committee is pleased to announce that the new Southborough Public Safety Facility located at 32 Cordaville Road received a temporary certificate of occupancy yesterday, August 13th, 2019. This will turn into a final certificate of occupancy once punch list items and landscaping are completed in the coming weeks. The Police, Fire, and Dispatch Departments will begin to transition their operations into the new building over the next few weeks with operations being fully transferred by the first week of September. Public notifications will occur when police and fire related business should be conducted at this new location.
“Today marks the first day that the Town of Southborough will take ownership of a building built to suit the needs of today’s first responders, as well as tomorrow’s. Our Committee is proud to have collaborated with so many professionals, town employees, and other Boards/Committees in the town to make this day become a reality,” quoted Jason Malinowski, Chair, Public Safety Building Committee.
“The building will be a model for any Public Safety Facility in the State”, said Police Chief Kenneth Paulhus. “The effort and attention to detail put forth by all involved should be recognized. I’m extremely happy for the Staff, especially the veteran officers who have worked their entire careers in the Peters School Annex. To be a part of the opening of the first Police Station constructed in the history of the Town is an exciting time. We look forward to moving our operations very shortly.”
“It has been a long time coming for the Town, and these Public Safety departments”, added Town Administrator Mark Purple. “We are fortunate to be the right people in the right place at the right time, but this accomplishment stands on the shoulders and efforts of many local officials and employees who have been trying to address this issue for many years. I think that we have given the Town a building that everyone can be proud of.”
In closing, Brian Shea, Chair of the Board of Selectmen, quoted, “On behalf of all who have served on the Board of Selectmen during the time that this facility has been planned and constructed, I want to thank all town Boards, Committees, Police and Fire Department members, and consultants who have played a role in making today a reality. Today’s achievement demonstrates our Town’s support and commitment to all of our public safety officers.”
The public is welcome to join a short opening ceremony on Wednesday September 11th at 7:30 AM by the Police/Fire Memorial at the new facility to jointly celebrate the opening of this new facility for our first responders while also honoring those first responders that made the ultimate sacrifice on September 11, 2001. No public tours or access to the facility will be available on this day.
The Building Committee in coordination with the Police and Fire Departments welcome the public for a Grand Opening celebration on Saturday October 26th from 10 AM to 2 PM, where public tours and other events will be planned. Specific events will be published closer to the event.
Updated (8/15/19 10:03 am): An updated release from August 15th replaced the 2nd to last paragraph above with this text:
The public is welcome to join a short opening ceremony on Monday September 9th at 7:30 AM by the Police/Fire Memorial at the new facility to jointly celebrate the opening of this new facility for our first responders. No public tours or access to the facility will be available on this day. The Police and Fire Departments will hold a private ceremony on September 11th to re-dedicate the memorial.
Updated (8/15/19 2:44 pm): I presumed that some residents reading about the facility would want to know how the budget is going. I could see in the progress report how construction costs were tracking. But more importantly, I wanted the update on the total project budget, including design and other costs. Chair Jason Malinowski of the PSB Committee responded:
As of our last meeting (and update to the BOS, as well), we remain in the range of returning approximately $3M on the approved $22.6M cost. This does not factor in the interest saved by not borrowing this extra $3M, as well. Obviously the land was also part of the warrant article but outside of our direct oversight.
Bad decision to celebrate a grand opening of a building, on the same day our country experienced the blackest days in our recent history. Mixing the two events, of a ribbon cutting, and heinous extermination of thousdands of people, is not only wrong, but a sacrilege. Better think again on this very insensitive decision. Have your ribbon cutting on another day. Another, may I say poor decision by BOS, and anyone else who is a part of this.
The date of the ceremony has been moved to 9/9. The 9/11 ceremony will be separate.
Every time I drive by the new fire station I shake my head. I can’t believe they designed the driveways with the curbs in the middle. The will undoubtedly be an issue for trucks getting in/out of the driveway. (Think night time or when there is 6″ of snow on the ground)
I agree about the driveway. Not a very welcoming entrance for the fire trucks. Add to that snowfall and that curbing will be chewed up in no time . Seems like when your driving the trucks you would need to hit just right to drive in the entrance and navigate the curves and the curbs.
The PSB. This is what we pay the big bucks for, to fancy engineers. Serpentine medians with expensive granite curbs, so the firetrucks can lose their mufflers, under carriage.
Brilliant. Who benefitted $$$$$$$$
The apparatus has been in and out with no problems. They are trained in driving fire apparatus.
Gossip has it that we are going to be paying for a fancy clock tower for our new master of Southborough Mr. Jon Delli Priscolli, Burnett House, for the tune of $25k. Soooooo what’s next. Notice the bird cage. Are we paying for that also. The interior hasn’t been touched yet, and the windows have all been trashed. What a great bargain. $1,000,000 and a gate that is a duplicate of Versailles. What’s next, a hall of mirrors???????????? What a dumb town.Can you say SUCKERS.
There are no new town appropriations. We bought historic preservation, and Delli Priscoli is spending that money, as well as his own, probably.
What a misinformed post!
Here are a couple points, HonestAbe. As Kelly Roney pointed out, CPA funds covered a preservation restriction on the property. The owner has met his obligation to preserve the buildings and landscape the grounds. The details he chooses for the grounds are his own business and carried out at his own expense. He is spending far more of his own funds than the CPA contribtion
The interior of the mansion, which you claim is untouched, has received thouasnds of man hours of careful renovation and upgrades to make it safe and livab,e. The windows wete in such poor condition it was not feasible to restore them so 88 new custom double oane efficient windows were built for the mansion and carruage house. All the new windows are instalked in the mansion. The wedding chapel is totally restored and upgraded inside and out. The Carriage House, which was in very poor condtion, is being totally rebuilt and finished off inside with fine details. The buildings now are superior structurally to the original. They now have modern lighting, heating and pllumbing. The place is now called Deerfoot and will be a splendid asset for this town for many years to come.
I think that overall, it looks wonderful! The rose bushes are a nice touch. The stone work on the chapel is superb. It’s going to be really beautiful once finished. I’m not particularly fond of the gates though. They are a little over the top for me. The B’s are a little confusing since the name of the place starts with a D. I mean, I understand where the B comes from, it’s just that moving forward it doesn’t make sense. I guess it’s a good conversational thing for those who will be staying there.
While it may be true that the CPA funds covered a preservation restriction on the property, there are some in this town that view money going to a private citizen’s home in which no one in the town will benefit except the homeowner reeks of misappropriation of tax dollars. I don’t include Chestnut Hill Farm in my lament quite simply because they open the property to hikers. The town taxpayers do benefit from the arrangement. What do we get for the million dollars we passed on to a private citizen, the right to view the exterior of an old house.The ornate gate serves as a slap in the face to those of us who paid for it and were not in favor of the deal to begin with. I would have loved to see the old farm on Sears Road preserved instead of cramming 3 houses on the property and wiping out an adorable piece of Southborough’s roots as an agricultural town. I didn’t see anyone jumping up and down when that property was sold. The town should not be in the business of handing out taxpayer money to private citizens when there is no direct benefit to the taxpayers.
The town taxpayers voted to preserve Burnett House, so they must believe we benefit from the expenditure of CPA funds.
When was the Sears Rd. farm building torn down? Wasn’t that development done 15 years ago? It was certainly long before we passed the demo delay bylaw.
The Burnett house was “saved” before the demo delay bylaw was put into effect. I don’t get your point on that.
Yes, saving this building was voted in, that doesn’t mean that those opposed can’t comment. It was one of those emotional votes that people showed up for just to vote on that.
I am glad it was saved. I’ve enjoyed watching the progress. But I also appreciate JMO’s point of view.
…but it’s going to be a business, not a personal property. So….