Council to Review Feasibility Study for New Portsmouth Police Station

The Portsmouth Police Department has one of the most woefully inadequate facilities in the state.

While other police departments boast climate controlled evidence storage facilities and high-tech dispatch centers, Portsmouth officers process evidence in a cramped storage-closet sized room crammed with stuff. Patrol and staff cars share the same parking lot. For a department Portsmouth’s size, there should be at least 22,097 square feet. The existing headquarters on East Main Road has 5,772.

There is “insufficient space for current law enforcement operations,” concludes a study by Drummey Rosane Anderson.

The feasibility study, commissioned by the town last year, will be presented to the Portsmouth Town Council next week and it proposes building an entirely new police station at the existing site. The projected project cost is $9.9 million.

Construction of a new facility will be required because additions and renovations would be highly disruptive and “will create more issues,” according to the DRA report.

At the same time, construction of a combined police, fire and public works facility is not feasible on the town-owned land on East Main Road because there is insufficient buildable land and topographical issues.

To accommodate the needs of the Portsmouth Fire Department, which suffers from its own host of space and facility deficiencies, the study concludes that the existing structure should be renovated at a cost of just under $1 million.

That project would extend the side of the building to add a dayroom, kitchen and office space on the first floor along with five dorms, a dayroom and a women’s room on the second floor.

A garage door would be enlarged to accommodate ladder trucks as well.

A proposed project schedule that included time for the town to introduce and get a bond referendum to fund the project passed in 2016 estimates the project could be completed by late 2018.

The council will view a presentation of the report by DRA at its Tuesday, May 26 Town Council meeting.

To view the full report, go HERE.