Bedford has experienced significant growth and commercial development during the past few decades. We are a vibrant community with more than 23,000 residents and hundreds of businesses. The current Safety Complex at 55 Constitution Drive was originally designed as general office space and was retrofitted when the Police and Fire Departments moved into the building in 1994.
As a result, the Safety Complex no longer meets the needs of our community and of our first
responders. Staffing has increased to meet increasing call volumes, creating a space shortage. Neither the police nor fire operations meet the modern standards required to ensure the health and safety of employees.
For example, separate holding cells are now required for males, females, and juveniles, and there is no space to create these areas.
Bedford’s population was 12,500 in 1994 when the Police and Fire Departments moved into the Safety Complex. Bedford has grown to a current population of 23,704 – a 90% increase.
Police staff increased from 28 to 65, while fire staff increased from 21 to 40. However, fire call volume in that time has more than tripled (1,206 to 3,842) while police calls have increased fivefold (8,266 to 43,291).
The current Police Station cannot provide adequate space for daily operations. The Fire Department needs a substation in the South River Road area to improve response times for over 29% of its calls. Both Departments are currently using workarounds to get the job done, but the additional efforts are unsustainable and not economically responsible.
The Town has worked on addressing this issue for more than 20 years:
- In 2000, the Master Plan detailed the need to address calls in the South River Road area.
- Two further studies in 2005 called for a substation on South River Road to be constructed.
- In 2014, a bond proposal for the substation received 56.7% approval but failed to acquire the 66% approval required.
- In 2015, a Safety Complex Space Needs Assessment was conducted to review options for expansion.
- From 2017 through 2022, the Town conducted a Town-wide facilities space Needs Plan and reviewed numerous sites for both a combined and a standalone Police Station and Fire Substation.
Police and Fire leadership, Town officials, and Consultants with expertise in this area reviewed a number of opinions and provided their expertise and feedback. The main goals were to develop modern facilities for our first responders, improve response times to high-call areas, and create the most cost-effective proposal for Bedford’s taxpayers.
Following a comprehensive review of a number of options, Town officials decided to move forward with plans for a new police station and fire substation located in the South River Road area.
The Fire Department covers 33 square miles from a single location. A second fire station located in the South River Road corridor, the area with the highest call volume, will allow for improved response times and better outcomes. While the Police Station can be located anywhere, creating a shared public safety space meets the needs of both departments while reducing costs.
As we discovered with the construction of the joint Middle/High School, fiscal prudence and careful design can result in benefits to the whole community. The school is truly the heart of the community and helps to retain property values. Likewise, constructing a new Police and Fire building will improve public safety and help ensure that homebuyers and business owners continue to seek out Bedford as their first choice to purchase a home or establish a business.
The Town purchased the land using Capital Reserve Funds approved for this purpose at the 2021 and 2023 Budgetary Town Meetings. In 2021, the Town Council recommended a deposit of $2 million funded from an unassigned fund balance. In 2023, a deposit of $1.5 million was recommended from the fund balance, which was offset by a deposit of the same amount as a result of the sale of 4 Sunset Lane.
Owning the land allows for a site-specific design to be generated and to improve the cost estimate of the facility. In addition, the Town has pursued the acquisition of several other properties in the area but was not successful. Acting now meant the Town could secure enough land in a part of the Town that was under intense development pressure. Reasonably priced tracts are becoming increasingly difficult to find in this area. The property itself is an investment, and should the project not go forward, it could be resold.
The new station will improve response time along the South River Road corridor, where roughly 29% of fire/EMS calls are generated. The response times for the remainder of the Town will remain consistent with current practice.
The Town has completed the conceptual design and used that to develop the estimated costs of the facilities improvements. The cost estimate is as follows:
Police and Fire Complex: $34.0 million
Safety Complex Renovation: $1.5 million
Town Office Renovation: $1.0 million
Total: $36.5 million
The Town is seeking approval to raise and appropriate $36.5 million for the design and construction of the project, bonding $35.5 million (with $1 million coming from Capital Reserves). This would mean no tax impact in 2024. Bond payments in 2025 would be for interest only in the amount of $630,125. This payment is estimated to have a 10 cent per $1,000 of assessed value tax rate impact at today’s values. The approximately $3,033,744 owed in 2026 is estimated to have a 49 cent tax rate impact at today’s values (approximately $294/year or $25/ month for a $600,000 home). The tax rate impact would then go down by 1 cent each year until the bond is paid off in 2044. The Town is also examining the feasibility to further reduce the cost to taxpayers by issuing multiple smaller bonds and pursuing outside grant opportunities.
In addition, the Long Term Debt Service will decrease with previous bonds for the Roads Program being paid off in 2024 (net decrease of ~$807,000), 2025 (net decrease of ~$555,000), 2026 (net decrease of ~1,141,000), 2028 (net decrease of ~$1,041,000) and 2031 (net decrease of ~$866,000).
That area also includes a number of residential senior facilities and services in those areas. Bedford has a long history of good community development and has concentrated growth in commercial districts. This benefits all residential taxpayers because commercial taxpayers do not utilize the same services at the same level.
Developing a shared facility is the least expensive solution and will be designed to the specialized needs of the Police and Fire Departments. These needs cannot be fulfilled in the current building. Municipal building projects, both here in Bedford and across the country, have been deeply affected by supply chain issues caused by the pandemic, and additional inflationary factors. Goods and materials cost more. Labor costs have increased sharply as the worker pool has become smaller.
Doing nothing means the Town will not be addressing important public safety needs, creating a longterm detriment. There is no indication that the costs of goods and services will decline in the near future. Also, the proposed site is an investment by the Town and could be sold if the project does not move forward.
The need for additional fire and police department staffing already exists independent of a new facility. The initial plan is to keep current staffing levels, but the Town will seek to add employees through the budget process over time. It is our goal to obtain a workforce that is in line with other communities of similar size and population.
The existing building will be retrofitted to retain the central Fire Department, the Building Division, and the Public Works Administration, as well as to add the Planning Department. This will allow “one-stop” permitting for residents and businesses. The Fire Department will still respond to calls for the western parts of the Town from there.
One of the Police Department’s major goals is becoming accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (CALEA). Accreditation is a process by which the Department will ensure it follows best practices in policies and procedures to meet 21st-century standards. Several facility-related issues impede accreditation, including problems with evidence handling and storage areas, lack of proper holding areas for male, female, and juvenile suspects, and lack of proper interview areas. The Police Department strives to achieve the highest level of public safety and wants to follow the best standards of operation in accordance with generally accepted national, state, regional, and local standards to best ensure the safety of our residents and police staff. These standards do not mean that we must build the “best” police station in the country. However, the current facility is not set up properly to meet these guidelines.
The new station was programmed to meet Bedford’s needs for the next 30 years. However, it is
expected to last closer to 50 years because it is not anticipated that the population will continue to increase as rapidly as it has in the last 30 years.
The Police Department currently operates out of 8,307 square feet. According to the programming efforts of our consultant experts, the Police Department should have approximately 29,000 square feet of interior space for a law enforcement agency of Bedford’s size. The new facility is proposed to have 28,400 square feet of dedicated space with an additional 5,700 square feet of public and common space and 10,200 square feet for the Fire Department substation. The new station totals approximately 44,300 square feet.
The Police Department facility is designed to meet the needs of a modern police station and to serve Bedford for the next forty years. Properly trained officers are of utmost importance and the current situation experienced by our staff is to only be afforded training during three days on two separate occasions per year. This occurs at a privately owned outdoor firing range facility. We are currently allowed at the range in small groups, such as one-on-one with an instructor; however, we are not allowed in large groups. The weather also makes it very difficult at times to provide proper training conditions. This presents problems getting all our officers trained unless we can arrange with other municipalities to use their facilities.
Having an indoor firing range would allow our Department and State Certified Firearms instructor to train officers more frequently and with no limits on accessibility. It would allow us to train new officers, to hold specialized training sessions, and to train using firearm, taser, and scenario training year-round without having to rely on other agencies. We ask our officers to respond to a variety of potentially life-threatening situations and it is vital that they are properly trained and react when called upon. They must maintain a heightened awareness and remain current on all training requirements so they are prepared to handle any potential threat. A firearms training facility provides the ability to train as needed.
The requested bond amount includes funding for furnishing, fit up, and equipment. No additional money is expected to be required.
Annual operating costs are estimated to be in the $200,000 range. This projection is based on typical operation at the current Safety Complex; the different square footage of the current and proposed facilities; the conceptual design; and potential savings via rooftop solar panels.
In addition, insurance costs (P&L) are estimated to be around $180,000 annually. This utilizes the insurance rate from Primex for the 2024-2025 P&L portion of our premium – a factor of $9.63/$1,000 of building and contents coverage.