A concept image from Woodard & Curran shows what a renovated and expanded public safety building could look like at 550 Minot Ave. in Auburn.
AUBURN — A city-commissioned study found that the best option for creating a public safety campus in the city is to expand the Central Fire station on Minot Avenue.
The City Council will hold a workshop session Monday at 6 p.m. to discuss the assessment report, which was conducted over the last year by public safety personnel, engineering consultant Woodard and Curran, Simons Architects and Colby Company Engineering.
If that plan moves forward, the police department would move out of Auburn Hall, which the report states was only meant to be a five-year solution until a new police headquarters could be built. The department has been at Auburn Hall for 13 years.
According to the assessment, the team reviewed several sites for the potential construction of a new facility, and it “was determined that the renovation and expansion of Central Fire is the best option for a Public Safety Campus due to its geographic location, size and existing infrastructure.”
A memo to the council from Facilities Manager Derek Boulanger says the assessment included site visits to all public safety buildings in the city, interviews with staff, and a space needs program analysis with the goal of identifying deficiencies and providing recommendations for long term solutions.
Boulanger said each of the fire stations, built between 1952 and 1974, have been well-maintained, but due to age and, “the evolution of public safety services over the last 50 years, (the facilities) do not support current programs and staffing.”
“Several deficiencies were identified at all fire stations, including life safety, diversity accommodation, lack of adequate space for additional beds, offices, fitness area and equipment storage,” he said.
As for the police department, he said Auburn Hall, “was not designed to accommodate police operations and presents many challenges for the department, including but not limited to, undersized locker rooms and restrooms, lack of a secure ‘sally port’ (entryway), accessible evidence storage and office space.”
The report states that combining police and fire into one campus allows for shared resources, as well as the 911 center to be relocated from the basement of Central Fire to the upper floors of the facility.
The report also calls for replacing the Engine 2 Fire Station on South Main Street with a new facility and renovating the Engine 5 facility on Center Street.
A preliminary implementation schedule says design work could begin as early as this year, with construction starting with the Engine 2 rebuild in 2023. It would be funded over a six-year phased timeline, with the bulk of the funding — an estimated $19 million — going toward the expanded public safety facility in 2025.
Lewiston is also in the middle of a multi-year phased approach to replacing all three of its fire department substations. A similar study was also conducted last year to assess the Lewiston police department’s space needs and future options for growth.
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