BERLIN – As the town’s acquisition of the former Tyson plant looms nearer, discussions regarding the property’s future abound.
While there’s quite a wish list of suggestions for the site’s future, there are also fears concerning its potential financial impact on the town. Taking those worries into account, Council member Lisa Hall says she wants to see the town combine two of its major pending projects — redevelopment of the Tyson property and construction of a police station. Rather than construct a building from the ground up at the Bay Street and Route 113 intersection, she’d like to see the town use a portion of the Tyson property for the police department’s new headquarters.
“Why are we building a new building?” she said. “With the purchase of the Tyson property we’ve already bought a police station.”
The town has been working toward putting a new police station on its property near the corner of Bay Street and Route 113 for several years. Design work is underway, and Berlin Mayor Gee Williams has said ground should be broken on the project next fall. Nevertheless, Hall says it’s not too late to reconsider the project’s location in favor of developing a portion of the Tyson property into a new station. She said a facility there would provide police with a more central location, close to the downtown area, and would still leave plenty of room for public recreation.
Instead of spending more than $2 million on a new building, Hall says the town could apply for grant money to help redevelop the former chicken plant into a police station.
“There’s a lot of grant money available to refurbish properties like Tyson,” she said, adding that incorporating the police station into an existing town facility would mean one less property for town staff to maintain.
Jason Walter, a Berlin resident who has expressed concern over the financial impact the town’s acquisition of the Tyson property could have, agreed that building a police station at the Old Ocean City Boulevard site would be practical.
“It makes a lot of sense if we have an existing building,” Walter said, adding that the Tyson property would provide a better location for a police station. “It would save us the expense of starting from the ground up.”
Walter said that if the town opted not to erect a new station at the site at the intersection of Bay Street and Route 113, that lot could be sold and developed commercially.
“It’d be less debt on the town,” he said.
Hall agreed, and said the neighborhood could benefit from a commercial use at the busy corner, as it was within walking distance of their homes.
“For the neighborhood people, they wouldn’t have to drive,” she said. “That would be a win-win.”
Hall said that if the town did sell the piece of land currently proposed for the police station, that money could go toward the construction of a community center at the parcel on Flower Street being acquired as part of the Tyson purchase. A police substation could be incorporated into its design, she said, so law enforcement would have a presence in the Flower Street community.
In an interview Wednesday, Williams said he could see some sort of police substation being established at the former chicken plant.
“It’d be there to provide security for people and property,” he said.
As far as funding the station being designed for Bay Street, Williams said the town had some options. Bonds could be issued or the town’s casino revenue — which amounts to roughly $240,000 a year — could be used.
“We have a revenue stream we can dedicate to it,” Williams said.
