Ground will be broken in Bethel next Wednesday for the new police station.  Construction will begin May 15th.  The project is expected to wrap up by next summer.

The current police station was constructed in 1974.  The driveway for the new facility would be on Judd Avenue with an emergency entrance on Route 302.

The project will more than double the size of the current police station on Plumtrees Road and include a bigger lobby, a shooting range, a community room, and a training room.  The two story building also will house locker rooms, a physical therapy room, six holding cells and rooms for processing arrestees. The main floor could include the dispatch center, records department, a classroom and offices.

Residents approved $13.5 million for the project. 

First Selectman Matt Knickerbocker says the Building Committee and Police personnel who were in charge of the planning process did a very thorough job.  He noted that they visited other police stations designed by the architect to ask if there was anything they would have done differently and if the layout worked like they thought it would.

Knickerbocker says adjustments were made during the planning process, which should save costs because there aren't any change orders anticipated.