SCARBOROUGH – With recent action by the Scarborough Town Council, the municipal and school campus on Route 1 may eventually expand.

At its March 16 meeting, the council, minus members Ron Ahlquist, Richard Sullivan and Carol Rancourt, gave Town Manager Tom Hall the go-ahead to buy property located at 265 and 267 Route 1, for $555,000. The purchase provides the town with a likely site for a new Public Safety building.

Per the finalized agreement, which was signed on March 18, the former owner, RDB Inc., will continue as property manager for the rental units on site for two years. The proceeds during the time will be shared between the town and RDB Inc.

Money for the purchase will come from the Public Safety Capital improvement Account, which was created in October 2008 to set aside funds for a new Public Safety facility. The account was set up with proceeds from the town sale of land at the corner of Commerce Drive and Route 1 to the owners of the abutting Maine Veterans’ Home.

The town initially acquired that property with the intent of moving the Public Safety building to the site. But concerns by the veterans home about the facility stalled the project.

Efforts to find a way to either expand or relocate the Public Safety building have been going on for the past decade, but always took a back seat to other municipal projects, such as improvement plans for Scarborough High School or, more recently, Wentworth Intermediate School, said Fire Chief Michael Thurlow.

After setting up a committee to review the needs of the Public Safety departments, it was determined that finding another location was the best option the town had to the space and operational issues at the existing building.

“Not only is there not enough room to make an expansion on site, but we have struggled for years getting our emergency vehicles onto Route 1 without backing up traffic in the Oak Hill area even with our sirens and lights on,” Thurlow said.

Although a new facility would still be located on Route 1, Hall said, emergency vehicles would not be directly accessing the busy thoroughfare. Instead, emergency vehicles would use an access road that would connect to Sawyer Road.

Police Chief Robert Moulton said the department has grown and expanded beyond the capacity of a 1989 addition. The department have had to find working space for several positions, such as records clerk, Volunteers in Policing and school resource officers.

The expansion of the force has also forced the department to get creative with storage and space for equipment.

“This building was built in 1989 and was built for the needs we had at the time without a whole lot of ability to expand or grow from there,” Moulton said.

One of the problems, Moulton said, is the lack of interview space and space for police officers, detectives and sergeants to work in.

And there are other problems. On rainy or snowy days, water drips from his ceiling. Moulton uses a self-designed indoor gutter system to catch the rain. On wet days, he said, the 10-gallon bucket has to be emptied at least once throughout the workday.

Thurlow and Moulton may, however, have to wait before they see a new facility. Hall said although Scarborough is now the owner of the property, the town will not immediately start developing it. That, he noted, could be years away.

“We don’t have an immediate need (to relocate Public Safety),” Hall said. “It will, quite frankly, take a few years. We’ll have to do finalized designs and go before the town voters,” he said, adding another abutting property would need to be secured before the relocation becomes possible.

The idea, however, has the support of several members of the Town Council.

Councilor Jessica Holbrook said, although it is a big expense, she is supporting it.

“I am supporting this even though this is a big stretch for me because I don’t support a whole lot when it comes to spending money,” she said.

Councilor Karen D’Andrea agreed.

“I think it is a good investment. We all know Public Safety is squeezed in their current facility,” she said, adding the fact that the town already has the funds set aside for the purchase makes it easier for her to support.

Thurlow said the new facility, which would provide adequate space for both fire and police purposes, would only increase the working relationship between the two departments.

“We have developed a culture of mutual respect in working together,” Thurlow said. “Separating the two departments would be counterproductive to that entire culture, which I think is pretty unique in terms of public safety.”

Although it is early to think about the use of the existing facility if Public Safety were to move out of it, Hall said, the leading option would be to sell it.

The Scarborough Police Department has outgrown its building, which was added to the public safety building in 1989. (Staff photo by Michael Kelley)