LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — Residents virtually queried planners on Tuesday at the first of three public hearings scheduled before a March 9 vote that will determine the fate of the proposed $5.9 million public safety building. 

The special town meeting on March 9 will include warrant articles that authorize the purchase of 405 South Main St. for the build and approve the nearly $6 million project cost. The site formerly housed the Skyline Country Club's driving range and is owned by Pittsfield's Mill Town Capital.  

The complex will include police, ambulance, emergency medical services personnel, sleeping quarters, garage space, an emergency management center, and an in-house training room.
 
Police Station Building Committee Chair Kristen Tool said the shared spaces are a vital part of the plan. 

"If the ambulance is not part of this project, really the whole project will have to be scratched and started again," Tool said. "And I know, personally, I would be very frustrated by that because this committee has worked for nearly a year to compile all of this information and we've really done a lot of work to make this building as small and fiscally responsible as possible."

The ad hoc panel was formed for the purpose of the developing a police station plan but last summer, the need for an ambulance space became clear along with the prospect of better funding for a combined facility. It was presented and approved by the Select Board.

Some found issue with the design's all-gender locker room.

"Long-term with a shared locker room (in my opinion) is not good," one person wrote in the Zoom chat. "Especially with gender diversity being something the Lanesboro Police need to be better at."

Tool explained that the committee originally envisioned having separate locker rooms but there is no way to predict the gender of staff.

"So you could have an entirely male staff and have a female locker room space that's never used and that didn't sound like a very efficient use of space for this building and so the chiefs decided that having a combined locker room was something that two departments could do professionally and safely," she said.

The plan includes two private changing rooms and opportunities to change in shower and toilet spaces.  Policies would be in place regarding changing in private areas only.

"All of the changing that will be done within the closed-off space of the changing area. So it's something that [Chief Robert Derksen] and I have discussed very thoroughly and something that we're both comfortable with our staffing, that that locker room space is really just a storage area for them and the changing, that will be happening in a private space," EMS Director Jennifer Weber said.

"I have taken a lot of cultural diversity and gender identity classes because I really want to make sure that everybody in the back of the ambulance, or on my staff, or anybody that I interact with in life feels comfortable with me so it is something that I've taken a lot of time to understand and that's something that we feel really strongly would be totally fine for our settings because again, you're not changing in that open area."

She clarified that the Fire Department has not asked the ambulance service to leave.

"We're growing. We're noticing that we're needing more space that's not available. The Fire Department is owned by the Firemen's Association and not by the town so modifications to the building if there was even room, would be at the expense of the association. There isn't room though," Weber said.

"Fire Departments' restrictions and regulations are constantly changing, requiring more room, bigger apparatus, so what they would be able to gain from us leaving is more space which would keep the association building and the Fire Department the way it is for longer."

The state has promised $1 million for the project, bringing the maximum taxpayer burden to $4.9 million, and the Baker Hill Road District is contributing $150,000 for the property purchase.

With a 40-year U.S. Department of Agriculture loan at 3.7 percent interest, the average taxpayer will see an annual increase of between $46 and $183 on their property tax bill..

"Right now the only guaranteed amount is that $1 million in bond money but I honestly think that with all of the steps that the committee has put in place by reaching out to our state and local representatives, by talking to people at the USDA, and now that we know the process for applying for funds through the bond, that we can cut this project cost at least by half," Tool speculated.

"So that's just me knowing the steps that need to be taken and being willing to take them but the only guaranteed amount right now is the $1 million that will lower the tax burden to $4.9 million."

The next public hearing is on Saturday, Feb. 25, at 1 p.m. at Town Hall, and a tentative meeting on Feb. 28 at 1 p.m. with the Council on Aging. The special town meeting will be held on Wednesday, March 9, at 6 p.m. at Lanesborough Elementary School.

All of the project's details are compiled into a nearly 45-minute slideshow posted 11 days ago. The presentation includes an outdated special town meeting date (March 1.)

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