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| Expansion and renovation work on Windham's Public Safety Building on Gray Road has been finished and the town will host a ribbon cutting and dedication ceremony and open house from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, July 13. PHOTO BY ED PIERCE |
A year in the making, the expansion work at Windham’s Public Safety Building on Gray Road has been completed and the public is invited to attend a special ribbon-cutting and dedication ceremony for the revamped facility from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday July 13.
The renovation project includes a two-story 5,840-square-foot addition that houses five apparatus bays, a new public safety decontamination space, bunk rooms, kitchen and offices for the Windham Fire Department, adding a new 1,305-square-foot standalone three-bay space for vehicle and evidence storage for the Windham Police Department, and the installation of a new second elevator for the building.
Renovation and construction work began on the public safety facility in July 2021 and featured work throughout the entire building. Workers performed HVAC and lighting upgrades to increase building efficiency and updated other areas during the project, including a revised locker room space; creating an additional 10 new parking spaces and the creation of a new 1,305-square-foot, single-story secured evidence locker for police; additional employee parking; an outdoor patio space; a new dumpster area; and the installation of a new generator for the reconfigured building.
“We’ve looked at the needs of our police and fire departments for a while and this is a much-needed expansion of Windham’s Public Safety Building,” said Windham Town Manager Barry A. Tibbetts during groundbreaking for the expansion last year. “We thank the voters for their support and to the Windham Town Council in moving this forward.” To accommodate the renovation project, Windham firefighters were temporarily moved out of the building during the upstairs construction work, while the Windham Police Department continued to use the facility as the work progressed.
In 2020, Windham residents approved up to $4.9 million in bonds during the Annual Town Meeting for capital improvement projects, including funding the expansion for the town’s public safety building. Additional funding for the building renovation was derived from town impact fees for new town residential developments and new commercial buildings.
Windham’s Public Safety Building at 375 Gray Road in Windham was originally built in 1988 at a time when none of the town’s firefighters were full-time staff members and Windham only had about 15 or so police officers on duty. Through the decades as Windham has grown, and the town now employs eight professional firefighters while the town’s police force has doubled in size to 30 officers.
Windham Fire Chief Brent Libby has said previously that firefighters have adapted the best they could to the old public safety facility, but welcome and are grateful for the new expansion.
“There was no room in the current building for future expansion and now we’ll have more space and room to grow. It will provide us with a classroom for training and bathrooms,” Libby said. “This project is huge for us, and this location is very important for us allowing us to reach wherever we are needed in the town in a short period of time.”
Windham Police Chief Kevin L. Schofield said in 2021 that police officers are grateful for the extra room created from the expansion.
“It’s nice to see that the town and the community has invested in itself,” Schofield said. “It will result in a more modern professional workspace for us as our staffing has doubled in size. It will be adequate space for them for the foreseeable future.”
Schofield said that Windham Police officers first started using the existing Windham Public Safety Building in April 1990.
To RSVP to attend the ribbon-cutting and dedication event, call 207-777-3514 by Friday, July 8. <
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