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Colchester to Vote on New Police Station

Colchester, Vermont - November 1, 2009

Two years ago, Colchester voters approved a big bond issue to build new town facilities and renovate the police station. Now, the voters will decide again at a special election this Tuesday. Not about the money, that's already approved, but whether to change the location of the police station.

Some Colchester residents wanted to know why town officials changed their minds and decided not to renovate the old building, which once housed the town offices and the police department. Instead, town leaders want to build a new police station just down Blakeley road near the high school. Voters already approved just over six million dollars total for a new town garage, town hall -- and at the time -- a renovated police station.

Colchester Selectboard Chairman Dick Paquette told Channel 3, "Since then, a lot has changed. We have had land offered to us which is school land, which is community land...I think it's the thing to do, is build a new building for the same amount of money as remodeling the old building."

Town officials say the schools are offering to lease the land for the station for a token one dollar. You can find various opinions, but advocates of a new police station say the old building has too many problems, including a serious lack of parking.

Jim Lefevre, a Colchester voter said, "It just doesn't work. So I'm thinking and everything I've heard says this will make it more efficient, more effective. And even the dollars make sense to me."

Another voter, Dale Scichitano, said, "The old building, now that there's nobody in there, they should be able to make do with that. You can't have to put up a new building and take over some school land. But I haven't decided which way I'm going to go yet."

Town officials say the more they looked at it, the more sense the school land seems to make. Colchester Select Board member Mickey Palmer said, "If we build a new building, we've got a building that's constructed specifically for police work."

Town officials say it makes sense to build a new police station from scratch, especially since it would more easily meet building code requirements and accommodate future growth, unlike the old police station just up the road. Plus, it does not involve any more voter approval of money. The voters themselves will decide at Tuesday's special election.

Andy Potter - WCAX News