Windham's Public Safety Building renovation and expansion officially under way

Members of Windham's Town Council, construction officials,
town public safety members and first responders, and Windham's
town manager gathered at the Windham Public Safety Building
at 375 Gray Road on July 2 to officially break ground for
expansion and renovation of the 33-year-old public safety
facility. Great Falls Construction of Gorham will work on
the $4.3 million project and expects to complete construction
in about 10 months. PHOTO BY ED PIERCE

By Ed Pierce

It’s been a long time coming, but ground has finally been broken on the $4.3 million expansion of Windham’s Public Safety Building at 375 Gray Road.

In a special groundbreaking ceremony conducted on July 2, members of the Windham Town Council joined Windham’s Police Chief and Fire Chief and construction officials in celebrating the start of the highly anticipated project.

When construction work is finished, the existing 17,000-square-foot building will add a 15,247-square foot renovation including joint space for both the Windham Fire Department and the Windham Police Departments. The project features a two-story 5,840-square-foot addition that will house five apparatus bays, a public safety decontamination space, bunk rooms, kitchen and offices for the Fire Department and an additional 1,305-square-foot standalone three-bay space for vehicle and evidence storage for the Police Department, along with the creation of a second elevator for the building.

Construction work will be performed by Great Falls Construction of Gorham, that has worked on four other projects for the town of Windham and many public safety buildings throughout southern and central Maine.

“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. “We thank the voters for their support and to the Windham Town Council in moving this forward.”

Renovation will take place throughout the entire building and will include HVAC and lighting upgrades to increase efficiencies and updating finishes throughout the building, to include a revised locker room space. Work on the facility during the project will create an additional 10 new parking spaces and a 1,305-square-foot, single-story secured evidence locker that will be located on the corner of the property, along with additional parking, patio space, a dumpster area and a new generator for the building.

Jon Smith, the owner of Great Falls Construction attended the groundbreaking event, as did Architect Mike Hays of Grant Hays Associates of Falmouth, and Owens McCullough of the civil engineering firm Sebago Technics of South Portland and representatives of the structural engineering company Allied Engineering of Portland.

Smith said the entire project team is based in Maine and it’s a great way to give back to the Maine community and support Maine’s workforce.

To accommodate the renovation project, Windham firefighters have temporarily moved out of the building for the duration of construction work, while the Windham Police Department will continue to use the facility as the work progresses.

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 is derived from town impact fees, which typically run about $300 to $3,500 for new residential developments, with fees for new commercial buildings figured based on purpose and overall square footage.

The current Public Safety Building on Gray Road was 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, the town now employs eight professional firefighters and the town’s police force has doubled in size to 30 officers.

Windham Fire Chief Brent Libby said that firefighters have adapted the best they could to the current public safety facility but welcome and appreciate the new expansion.

“It’s a great transition,” Libby said. “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. 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 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.”

Police officers first started using the existing Windham Public Safety Building in April 1990.

Mike Hays, the architect who helped create the final design for the building expansion, said he’s humbled to be part of such vital work.

“It’s a great day for Windham’s first responders and I’m excited to be part of such an exciting project. It will be home base for first responders who serve all of the residents of this town.”

Owens McCullough said Sebago Technics is thrilled to work on the project and everyone involved with the renovation and expansion work is eager to get going.

“It’s really a team that makes this happen,” he said.

Construction work is expected to take about 10 months to complete, Tibbetts said. <

Voters approve Windham’s 2021-2022 budget during annual town meeting

By Matt Pascarella

In the annual meeting at Windham High School on Saturday, June 12 residents voted to approve the 2021–2022 municipal town budget of $35,115,270 and RSU 14’s $52,233,221 budget. Senator Bill Diamond was chosen as this year’s moderator at the meeting.

Senator Bill Diamond takes the podium to preside
as moderator over the Annual Windham Town 
Meeting at Windham High School on Saturday, 
June 12 to approve the municipal town budget and
the RSU schools budget. PHOTO BY
MATT PASCARELLA  

All warrant articles brought to the town meeting were approved by those in attendance.

Some of the approved funds in the municipal budget will create a new parking lot and paving at Lowell Park next to the East Windham Fire Station for $240,000; general paving in Windham for $2,600,000; new playing fields at Manchester School for $1,350,000; and $550,000 to complete the purchase of Engine 7 for the Windham Fire Department.

Windham Town Manager Barry A. Tibbetts said this budget represented the needs of the community going forward. He calls this a flat budget, meaning the municipal budget did not increase.

With the flat budget, taxes from the municipal side stay flat. Tibbetts believes the school budget will have a very slight tax increase.

Will there be a tax increase to residents? Tibbetts does not anticipate a mil rate increase. He said holding all things current to last year, taxes should remain the same or at best go down.

However, the town is doing a property revaluation, so depending on home values some property taxes might go up.

“I am very satisfied. I think they did a lot of hard work and I think it’s reflected in how smoothly the town meeting went,” said Windham resident Lisa Bartell.

Windham resident Len West thought they went through the meeting pretty quick. He is concerned about a tax increase and while they made it a point to say there is no mill rate increase, West said they didn’t say anything about the increase in home values.

“I think it went very well; I think it illustrated the trust that people have in our town council and town manager, and I think that’s positive,” said Diamond. “I think it’s a nice reflection of where we are in the town of Windham.” <

Windham awaits closing on sale of former South Windham Fire Station

The Windham Town Council has approved the sale of the old
South Windham Fire Station to Great Falls Construction of 
Gorham. Closing for the building is expected to be finalized
by June with plans calling for the structure to be redeveloped
into a brew house and restaurant. PHOTO BY ED PIERCE    

Developers plan brew house, restaurant for vacant structure

By Ed Pierce

At some point this spring, ownership of the South Windham Fire Station will pass to a Gorham company who plan to redevelop the building and convert it into a new brew house and restaurant.

During the Windham Town Council’s final meeting of 2020 on Dec. 22, councilors unanimously voted to sell the old vacant fire station for $125,000 to Great Falls Construction of Gorham, owned by Jon and Cindy Smith. At the same meeting, the council awarded a contract up to $4.3 million to Great Falls Construction to renovate the Windham Police Department building and to construct a new fire station at 375 Gray Road in Windham. Closing for the sale of the old South Main Fire Station is expected by June.

Located at 8 Main Street on Route 202 near the town line with Gorham, the single-story former South Windham Fire Station sits on 0.3 acres along the Presumpscot River. It features 3,500-square feet of space, four bays, with offices and storage areas in the rear of the structure.

When the town council requested bids for the building and property in September, councilors said that the desired outcome was to redevelop the former fire station “into a vibrant commercial and/or mixed-use property that will act as a catalyst in the revitalization of the South Windham Village.”

Before it was decommissioned in 2017, the South Windham Fire Station was one of four fire stations within the Windham Fire-Rescue Department. The original South Windham Fire Department was founded in 1913 and consisted of a house for storing fire hose near what is now the Little Falls Landing Retirement community. A functional hydrant system for firefighters was created using water pumped from Sebago Lake.

By 1934, the South Windham hose house had been upgraded to a larger dedicated fire house using bricks supplied by the men’s reformatory on River Road in Windham and labor from the U.S. government’s Works Progress Administration. Two years later, in 1936, that structure was heavily damaged by a fire and was reconstructed. In 1966, Windham built the four-bay regional fire station that it shared with Gorham for almost five decades before being deemed too small and unsuitable for expansion.

Great Falls Construction was one of two companies bidding to acquire the old fire station and has successfully redeveloped numerous buildings and structures in Maine, including Station Square in Gorham.

During the Dec. 22 meeting, Windham Town Manager Barry A. Tibbetts told the council that the taxes that would accumulate from this parcel would go into a future TIF to be established and those funds will be used for future sidewalks, road improvements, lighting and general upgrading of infrastructure in the South Windham area. Voters had approved a bond financing the Windham Central Fire Station expansion project earlier in 2020.

In its presentation letter to the Windham Town Council, Great Falls Construction officials said the company is currently in the process of developing an 11-acre parcel in the center of Berwick, at the site of the former Prime Tanning Lot now renamed as “The Edge at Berwick” among several others it is working on in the state.

“If successful with the South Windham Fire Station redevelopment proposal, we will seek to create a suitable space for local residents to enjoy that will act as the stimulator for the revitalization of other spaces in this village center,” the presentation letter reads.

The letter goes on to say that “once the construction is complete, our commitment to quality and community fit does not stop. The same values are carried forward with our property management company, JCS Property Management. We currently own and operate over 100 commercial and residential units throughout Southern Maine.”

The Great Falls Construction presentation to Windham town councilors proposed a renovation and update of the old South Windham Fire Station facility to create a family-friendly neighborhood craft brewery and restaurant combination at that site.

“We see this property as the ideal place for families to enjoy dining and gathering while riverside and are confident in a craft brewery/restaurant’s ability to provide local skilled labor and stimulate the surrounding village’s economy to best prepare it for future vibrancy,” the presentation letter reads. “This unique property located along the river creates a pleasing spot and lends itself perfectly for a nice afternoon out to lunch or dinner with family and friends. Our intention is to create a vibrant commercial property that will anchor and stimulate the development of the South Windham Village as it continues to improve as a community orientated, walkable place to gather.”

Details for the Great Falls property redevelopment plan is to connect with the current footpaths to promote continued foot traffic and allow for maximization of parking onsite and along the adjacent street.

“We have considered the changes in design in this COVID-19 world and are confident in the sustainability of the model which includes extensive outdoor seating and garage doors that open for extensive ventilation. We also intend to display the natural beauty of the river by creating ample gazing opportunities whether inside the craft brewery restaurant or out. The river is a treasure we’re excited to responsibly unveil for patrons and community members to enjoy while dining or gathering with family and friends. The public benefit is top of mind as we developed this concept plan as we only succeed if the community accepts and enjoys the space. We are confident in the positive community benefits this local option will create for the South Windham Village,” the presentation reads. <