Police Chief James Viadero last week updated the Board of Selectmen about ongoing planning toward the construction of a new police station to replace the existing station at 3 Main Street (Route 25).

Chief Viadero told the selectmen on September 18 that four firms are interested in designing a new facility to house the 45-member police department. One of those firms eventually would be selected to draw architectural plans for the project.

Representatives of the four firms are scheduled to present their qualifications and ideas on the project on October 4 to a six-member ad hoc town committee focused on the police station project.

First Selectman Pat Llodra asked the chief about progress on selecting a location.

The town-owned Fairfield Hills campus is the preferred location for a new police station, which would enclose 24,000 to 28,000 square feet of space, the chief responded. The land currently occupied by Cochran House on Mile Hill Road South, within the Fairfield Hills campus, appears to be the place best suited for a new police station, in terms of its location and topography, he said.

Cochran House, which was built in 1956, encloses 188,000 square feet of space. It served as a patient housing/treatment facility at the state psychiatric hospital ,which closed in 1995. The site is adjacent to the town's Emergency Operations Center and three youth baseball fields.

The 3 Main Street site occupied by the current police station is not a suitable place for an expanded police station, Chief Viadero said.

In response to a question from a selectman, the chief held out the possibility that a new police station could be constructed somewhere other than Fairfield Hills, at a site which the town would buy, but he added, "Right now, it's all preliminary."

Chief Viadero said it is not yet possible to estimate the overall cost for a police station, but suggested $13 million as a possible figure, in view of the cost of a new police station in Bethel. The neighboring town's new $13.5 million police station is being built on town-owned property near Bethel High School.

At a Newtown budget referendum in April, by a 2-1 margin, voters authorized bonding for $300,000, which would be used to create basic plans for a new police station. Additional funding approvals would be required later.

Town police officials have long said that their existing facilities are physically substandard and especially too small for the functioning of the police department. Also, they say that their current 1.2-acre site is cramped and has inadequate parking. Police Commission members have intermittently discussed the need for a new police station for the past 15 years

Chief Viadero told the selectmen that the existing police station limits the police department's efficiency as a law enforcement agency.

Selectman Herb Rosenthal observed that constructing a new police station has been delayed for many years.

Mrs Llodra asked that Chief Viadero report back to the selectmen periodically on the status of the police station project, especially in terms of the site determined to be the best place for the facility.

"I think there will be mixed views on where that should be located," she said.

George Benson, town director of planning, said that the current Cochran House site at Fairfield Hills is the best place to build a new police station. Due to the importance of building a new police station, the town should expedite the demolition of Cochran House and the subsequent construction of a police station there, he said.

Ross Carley, chairman of Fairfield Hills Authority (FHA), said that if a police station is built at Fairfield Hills, the FHA wants the building's exterior appearance designed with sensitivity to the architecture of Fairfield Hills.

It will be a lengthy process and we will be moving along being fully cognizant of cost, best use of town-owned land, determination if other sites are available, and the continued economic and budgetary constraints of the state and town on the project.

Chief Viadero said September 20 of the police station planning process, "

"The end goal," he added, "is to provide the best in public safety services as deserved by the community.... We want to make the process as transparent as possible with input from the community we serve."

The building known as Town Hall South that holds the existing police station served as an agricultural equipment dealership until the early 1980s, when the town converted that 1950 structure for use as a police station on the upper level and town offices on the lower level.