Code, construction offices to remain at Poplar Ave. Munson: Moving offices would raise cost of new police HQs BY CHRISTINE VARNO Staff Writer West Long WEST LONG BRANCH — Plans are moving forward to relocate the police department to a new facility on Broadway, but other municipal offices will remain on Poplar Avenue. After meeting with the architect designing a 10,000-square-foot police headquarters at the site of the current borough hall, Councilwoman Bettina Munson said the cost for an expanded facility came in above the original estimate of $2.75 million for the project. “The solution is to leave the zoning and construction [offices] at the Poplar Avenue [location],” said Munson at the Dec. 13 Borough Council meeting. “Now we just need the plans from the architect,” she said after the meeting. The council hired architect Andrew Trocchia Jr. to design the new building, which is to be constructed adjacent to the current borough hall. Final plans are expected to be submitted by the architect before the Jan. 17 council meeting, Munson said, adding that the borough is hoping to begin construction on the project in July or August. Plans call for police headquarters to be relocated from the former borough hall at 95 Poplar Ave., where mold has been a problem, to a new building at 965 Broadway. Originally, plans called for the construction and code enforcement offices, which also are at Poplar Avenue, to be moved to the new building. Munson met with Trocchia prior to the council meeting and learned that the footprint of the 10,000-square-foot facility would go up to 11,687 square feet in order to contain the police offices as well as the construction and code enforcement offices. “That brings the cost up from $2.75 million to $3.2 million,” Munson said last week. “We didn’t feel that people wanted to go any higher so we said the other offices can stay,” she said. Councilman Joseph C. Woolley added, “We are just trying to save money, that’s all.” “Our next phase is to look into what the use of 95 Poplar will be,” Munson said during her committee reports at the meeting. “In November, I met with the library and they are interested in taking part of 95 Poplar,” she said, adding after the meeting that library and borough officials are only discussing the possibility of using space at the building. “Nothing is final yet,” she said. Plans will also include renovations to the basement area at the Poplar Avenue building where mold was located, Munson said. “The air quality [at the building] was tested and it is fine in the building,” Munson said. “There was never anything upstairs. “We will not have any employees working in the basement,” she added. The most recent plans do not include the 2,600-square-foot municipal courtroom that was shown in the architect’s concept plans in September, according to Munson. Mayor Janet W. Tucci and other council members are hoping to eventually share municipal court services with neighboring Ocean Township. Omitting the courtroom cut the project’s estimated $5.5 million cost by half, down to $2.75 million. “The building committee is going to continue working with the architect on the police building,” Munson said at the meeting during committee reports. “When [the architect] comes in with the design plan, we can explain it better,” she added. “We want to keep the costs down and at the same time make sure it is a nice building. The idea is to match it to [borough hall] for a community feel.” Branch