An Indianapolis design firm sunk nearly a year of work into a new Bargersville police station before town officials decided to switch firms.
The only explanation for the change is that the town is “going a different direction” with the project, said Laura Kennedy, a town spokesperson.
The Bargersville Town Council didn’t elaborate on why the change was made at its public meeting Dec. 8, when the new firm was selected, nor did town manager Julie Young.
The town hired the first firm, Pyramid Architecture and Engineering, in Dec. 2019, and has paid the company $40,632 for work that is already completed, Kennedy said.
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A floor plan and some more advanced design work has been done, but no rendering is available, she said. The new firm, Peterson Architecture, of Noblesville, will pick up the design where Pyramid left off for an amount not to exceed $57,500.
The town council voted unanimously to hire Peterson, with member Andrew Greenwood abstaining due to a conflict of interest.
The hope is to have design of the new station 75% completed by February, and to start the public bid process for part of the building, Kennedy said. Right now, the town is looking to bid and build the station in three phases; the first being site work, the second being foundation and the third being the building itself, she said.
The new station will be located on 1.9 acres of town-owned land at the northeast corner of Whiteland Road and Morgantown Road.
The project is expected to cost between $1.5 million and $2 million, based on preliminary architectural estimates by Pyramid, Kennedy said.
With the new building, the growing department would have a permanent home, whereas the current station is housed in rented space the department has outgrown. The department is planned with room to accommodate more planned growth in staffing for the department to match growth in the town’s population over the next decade, she said.
The station will also provide the space needed to expand new higher-tech aspects of police work and feature multiple charging stations for the department’s Teslas, Kennedy said.
The new station is also intended to increase accessibility. For example, the training room may also serve as a community meeting space, she said.
