Verona officials have posted Solutions Architecture’s concept plan for a combined headquarters for the Verona Police Department, Verona Rescue Squad and a Verona Fire Department station to the Town Council page of the township’s website. The plan was shown at the December 18 Town Council meeting. Solutions Architecture, which is based in Verona, is the firm that designed the recent expansion of the Verona Public Library.
The 77-page document could help clarify some of the questions about the two-story, 35,000-square-foot structure that have been raised since the Council meeting. It notes that the township had explored more than 20 sites before committing to 217 and 225 Pompton Avenue, two lots just north of Linden Avenue that came on the market in February 2023. Slide 5 shows the proposed multi-department building superimposed on the Pompton lots and three other locations, marked by yellow dotted lines. None of the other sites could fit the proposed building.
The document details the history of the existing police, Rescue Squad and Fire Station #2 buildings, which are decades old and in need of extensive repair. The VPD offices are out of compliance with the state Department of Corrections, and both the firehouse, which is the one located opposite Everett Field on Bloomfield Avenue, and the Rescue Squad building on Church Street fail to meet current requirements of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
In an email today, Township Manager Joseph D’Arco said that neither a firehouse nor a Rescue Squad building that would meet OSHA requirements would fit on their current sites. He also said that, even if the current firehouse was completely gutted and rebuilt, a standalone building could cost up to 25% more than the proposed space in the shared building due to duplicate costs for bringing in and staging construction materials and the additional square footage required for redundant infrastructure like toilets, elevators, emergency generators and the like. A standalone Rescue Squad building would have the same issues.
Over the decades, various Town Councils have sought to relocate the services from the old buildings. But new locations were limited and, when they did appear, the town was either outbid or couldn’t afford the project. But Verona’s municipal finances are in better shape now and the Council has made fixing infrastructure a priority.
At the Town Council meeting, Mayor Christopher Tamburro said there will be public feedback meetings on the concept plan soon. The overall cost of the building was not discussed at the meeting and, while it will likely be substantial, Verona would be able to sell the site now occupied by Station #2 and the Rescue Squad would allow the town to sell its building and keep the proceeds. Frank Messineo, the founder of Solutions Architecture, said that once the concept plans and budget are approved, there would be six to eight months of engineering design work, followed by 20 months for construction.
You can go through the entire concept plan here.
