Tilton voters will be asked to approve new police station — again

TILTON — Four times since 2006, voters have rejected plans to build a new police station.

Town officials hope that on March 14, the fifth time will be the charm.

That’s when voters will decide whether Tilton should raise $4.7 million through bonds to construct a new station and emergency center.

At last year’s Town Meeting, voters approved an expenditure of $350,000 to purchase a 4.5-acre parcel on Sanborn Road from the Roman Catholic Diocese of New Hampshire to be used for the station. They also approved spending $194,500 to design the new police station.

The station will replace one built in 1990, which in turn replaced one that was located in the circa-1879 Town Hall.

Police Chief Robert Cormier said that since the old station was built, his department has more than doubled in size to more than two dozen employees. Calls for service have tripled amid strong retail growth.

“The police station was built before Walmart, Tanger Outlets, Shaw’s Plaza, BJ’s, Home Depot, Lowe’s,” he said. “This has significantly increased our daytime population and traffic count.”

The town’s population is 3,600, but Cormier said the daytime population may be as high as 20,000 to 30,000.

Tilton is a gateway to the Lakes Region and its events.

“We get all the traffic from concerts at Meadowbrook, people going to Gunstock, Bike Week and NASCAR,” he said.

With all those people come more calls for service. Cormier said Tilton has about 400 traffic accidents a year and several hundred calls for distracted or erratic driving. The town has also seen its share of organized retail crime and drug offenses.

Cormier said the present station at 179 E. Main St., was built more like a house than a police facility. People are booked in a hallway. The evidence room is in the basement, where there is no air handling system, leading to exposure concerns associated with seized drugs.

Kevin LaChapelle, chairman of the Police Building Study Committee, also said the station does not have enough office space and interview rooms do not have sufficient privacy.

There is a lack of parking and traffic safety concerns. There is a blind curve at the station, which poses problems for emergency operation of police vehicles. The lower floor is not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

If the bond measure passes, the tax increase on a $200,000 home is estimated at $83.70 per year, LaChapelle said.

He said residents seem to understand a new station is needed.

“We have had so much support on this project to this point,” LaChapelle said. “We’ve not heard that we don’t need the building. Most folks that we talk to know that we need it.”

He said the 12,200-square-feet, one-story building will enhance public safety and reduce risk and liability in the current facility.

Patricia Consentino, a member of the Tilton Board of Selectmen, said people are concerned about property taxes, but noted that the cost of building a new police station has gone up over the years as people considered the project.

“We have a lot of people realizing, 'If not now, when?,'” she said. “It will cost our children even more if we wait. This is our capital project. Now is the time. The bond rate now is very low.”

The land for the new station is on Sanborn Road near the Tanger Outlets mall. A football field on the property would be re-situated as part of the project.