With a vote of 5-0, North Branford's Planning and Zoning Commission (PZC) has approved plans for the construction of the new North Branford police facility at 305 Forest Road/Route 22. The Town's project engineer is Criscuolo Engineering, LLC (Branford) and project architect is Silver, Petrucelli & Associates, Inc. (Hamden).

The $7.5 million project was approved for bonding by the Town Council in 2020 and will receive $128,000 in state funding to aid construction through a Small Town Economic Assistance Program (STEAP) grant. The new police facility will replace the town's aging, outmoded and outgrown police headquarters at 260 Forest Road, first built in 1974 and last renovated in 1993.

The PZC approved the plans on January 21, following presentations from project engineer Jim Pretti of Criscuolo Engineering and lead architect Brian Cleveland  of Silver, Petrucelli & Associates. The meeting was held via Zoom and shared by Totoket TV with viewing also available at its Facebook page.

The site for the new facility is on the eastern side of Forest Road on 13.5 acres of Town-owned land which includes a former hayfield. The land also backs up to include a wooded, steep slope (to be graded) bordering with Tilcon Connecticut Inc. property. The site's grading/erosion control plan calls for leveling land and installing a retaining wall along the back of the property (not to exceed 8 feet in height). As Pretti noted on January 21, North Branford Public Works had already started assisting with some preparation work at the new police facility site including the removal of some trees.

The new police facility will front the site along Forest Road with a 15,000 square-foot building designed with a milk-barn-meets-21st century aesthetic. The design was carefully thought out to take into account the "vernacular" of the area's agricultural nature, said Cleveland, speaking to the PZC Jan. 21.

When working with the police commission and the Town's Permanent Project Building Committee develop and finalize plans for the new facility, "...we were very mindful of the vernacular of this area, hence the form we took on this building," said Cleveland, noting the final design is similar in scale and character to a milk barn to the north.

"The intent was to make sure that we stay in context with the farming nature of North Branford," said Cleveland.

The facility will feature a gray Connecticut fieldstone base and off-white board and batten siding (using low-maintenance fiber cement material), with black-trimmed gridded windows and metal roof of gunmetal gray, with a 35' gable peak as its highest point. The front features a colonnade of wood-tone pillars with a wood carrying beam under the roof overhang; which will have a simulated wood ceiling that carries into the lobby space. Identifying signage will be placed near the building's front right corner; with a future, stand-alone sign (subject to approval) at the roadside entrance.  Public parking will be at the front of the building.

Public, police and administrative spaces occupy the first floor, while primary use of the second floor is reserved for mechanicals, storage and IT.  The public will enter from a central door at front leading into a lobby space, with dispatch and records offices off the main lobby. A secure door beyond that point will lead into a major north-south corridor running the entire length of the building to access different areas. Administrative offices will be located at the north end of the building. The south end of the plan includes a secure entrance from a two bay (up to four vehicles) sally port, with a detention area below (three detention cells) as well as holding area, booking and some storage space. The design also provides for a windowed meeting room at the south end of the building, primarily for police training and commission meeting use (but potentially for other town meetings, if needed). The meeting room will be accessed at the south end of the building by a secure vestibule which includes two restrooms.

Officers will enter the building from a rear central entrance. Police vehicles will also be parked at the back of the building. Also at the rear of the property, mechanical equipment (generator, transformer and oil tank) will be enclosed behind a 6-foot high privacy fence with a board and batten design. The back property will also include an impound area, as well as installation of a below-grade cistern water supply to the building's sprinkler system. A septic system, already approved by East Shore District Health Department, will also be installed at the back.

Specifically on Jan. 21, with one vote of 5-0, the PZC approved the construction of a new police station, associated site work, parking, stormwater infrastructure, on-site septic, landscaping, lighting, accessory shed and a fenced impound area. In addition to standard conditions of approval, the approval carries two special conditions. The first calls for any requirements of Connecticut Dept. of Transportation (DOT) be incorporated in the final site plan for construction, subject to review and approval of the Town Engineer. The other stipulates the relocation of the Town's Public Works access driveway (290 Forest Road) to a point directly across from the main driveway at new police facility (together with any drainage improvements identified as needed on the westerly side of Forest Road), with work to be completed to the satisfaction of the Town Public Works Director and Town Engineer.

The realignment of the Public Works driveway is a Town project that will be separate from the new police facility construction project. Another separate project that's now on the Town's radar will be to take any fill removed from the police facility site during the grading process and store it for Public Works' future use; with planned use to include leveling areas of the Town-owned Potato and Corn Festival field on the Augur property across from the new police facility site.