By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
Mayor Jay Gillian estimated it was more than 20 years ago when Ocean City officials began debating the fate of the city’s antiquated public safety building, a former school dating to about 1890.
But Gillian’s administration, Police Chief Bill Campbell and City Council seem to be in full agreement now on plans to renovate and expand the structure to squeeze decades of additional use out of the landmark red-brick structure.
Council approved a $1 million contract Thursday for Somers Point architect William McLees to design the building’s modernization and expansion, ensuring that it will continue to serve as the headquarters for the police department and municipal court.
City Business Administrator George Savastano characterized Council’s vote as a momentous step that culminates years of discussion on exactly what the city should do with the public safety building.
“This is literally years. It’s more than a decade,” Savastano said while holding up an architectural rendering depicting the renovated building.
Later on during the Council meeting, Gillian said he believes city officials had previously talked about the building for “20 years plus” without coming to an agreement.
At the meeting, members of Council strongly endorsed plans to renovate and expand the building at an estimated cost of $30 million.
“I think this is an amazing outcome,” Councilman Tom Rotondi said.
Councilman Dave Winslow said he was initially skeptical about plans to renovate such an old building, but changed his mind after the entire project was laid out by Gillian’s administration.
Winslow explained that if a decision on the building’s future had dragged on for much longer, it would have seemed that “we waited too long and have done nothing.”
Underscoring the old building’s need for renovation, Winslow pointed to the leaky roof on the three-story structure.
“The idea of having buckets on the third floor when it rains is embarrassing,” he said.
Councilman Jody Levchuk, though, said he thought it was wise for the city to wait to make a final decision on the building while all of the options were considered.
“This is going to be two great things going forward for us for the next, 40, 50 years,” Levchuk said of plans for the public safety building and a new police substation on the Boardwalk.
In recent years, Gillian had flirted with the idea of developing an entirely new public safety building combining the operations of the police and fire departments. He backed off after Council balked at the estimated $42 million price for a new building.
Savastano explained that by renovating an existing building, the city will save millions of dollars compared to constructing an entirely new facility. He also said the renovations will cause fewer disruptions in the downtown area during the construction phase.
Despite the building’s old age, the foundation is solid and the “bones are not bad,” Savastano said of the existing superstructure that will be saved.
“When it’s done, it’s going to be like new,” he said.
According to tentative plans, the building’s renovation and expansion will begin in 2025 and be completed by the summer of 2026.
Prior to work starting on the public safety building, the city will construct a new $6.5 million police substation on the Boardwalk at Eighth Street. Construction on the substation is scheduled to begin this year and be finished by June 2025.
Police Chief Campbell sat in the front row of Council chambers while plans for the public safety building and police substation were being discussed.
He said in a brief interview afterward that he is “100 percent supportive” of the plans for both police facilities.
The police department’s patrol units will temporarily move their operations into the substation while construction is being done on the public safety building.
Meanwhile, the police department’s administrative staff and emergency dispatch operations will temporarily occupy two floors of the former Crown Bank Building at 801 Asbury Ave. during renovations to the public safety building.
Council introduced an ordinance Thursday to lease the space in the former Crown Bank Building, a downtown landmark at the corner of Eighth Street and Asbury Avenue.
