PLAINVILLE
TOWN HALL & PUBLIC SAFETY FACILITIES
BUILDING PROJECT
EXISTING CONDITIONS
The Plainville Public Safety Facility and the Plainville Town Hall are both undersized and do not meet the needs of 21st century departments.
Public Safety Facility
The Plainville Public Safety Facility was originally built in 1964 as a trucking company. It was converted to a combined public safety facility in 1973. Since that time, emergency services runs for the Fire Department alone have nearly quadrupled (874 in 1973 to an est. 3,286 in 2016), and the Fire Department leases an additional garage space in a shopping plaza across the street to house all required apparatus and equipment. The building does not meet numerous local, state and federal codes including ADA accessibility, contains hazardous materials including asbestos, and there is no secure separation of public, police and fire functions. There is also a lack of training space, locker rooms for all personnel, and secure storage.
Town Hall
The Plainville Town Hall was originally built in 1938 as a fire station. There is inadequate meeting space as well as records storage, and the server room also serves as a break room. Similar to the Public Safety Facility, the building does not meet numerous local, state and federal codes including ADA accessibility, and the mechanical and electrical systems are antiquated and nearing the end of their useful lives. There is also a lack of security and high maintenance costs.
Wood School
The old Wood School currently stands in the proposed location for the new public safety facility. Renovation of the existing building for use as the public safety facility is not being recommended due to the excessive size and required renovations to meet current codes for emergency services facilities.
For more details on the existing conditions at each facility, please scroll through each photo gallery below. If you would like to tour each facility, please contact Jennifer Thompson, Town Manager, (508) 695-3010 ext. 11, Fire Chief Justin Alexander at (508) 455-7556, or Police Chief James Alfred at (508) 695-7115.
PLAINVILLE PUBLIC SAFETY FACILITY
The building is undersized and does not meet the needs of modern police and fire departments.
The Town leases this garage space to house Fire Department apparatus and equipment which does not fit in the main facility.
When a call comes in, firefighters must cross the busy street to access some apparatus and equipment, creating delays in response times.
The main apparatus bays open directly into a parking used by the public, staff, and equipment. Trucks must travel through the parking lot to exit onto the street.
Staff and equipment parking is not separated or secure.
The public safety facility was once a trucking company. The bays were not designed for modern trucks and equipment which barely fit in the bays.
Trucks and ambulances barely fit through the apparatus bay doors which can delay response times.
Trucks and equipment must be backed in at an angle to fit in the auxilliary apparatus bay.
The space between apparatus is cramped. Firefighters must squeeze between equipment which can delay response times.
The truck just barely clears the top of the apparatus bay door.
The ambulance just clears the beam in the apparatus bay.
Doors cannot fully open for firefighter access
Most bays do not fit more than one vehicle in a bay. the auxiliary apparatus holds 5 vehicles which must park this closely to fit.
Damage has occurred from backing the trucks into the bays due to the tight clearances.
Up to four vehicles must be moved out of the auxiliary apparatus bay to utilize many pieces of equipment which can delay response times.
Firefighters' protective gear is is subject to contamination from truck exhaust.
Additional gear is stored in the room with the hot water heater.
Firefighters must decontaminate their gear on the apparatus bay floor. The washing machine is located directly next to the air tank fill station.
The fill station for air tanks is located on and utilizes air from the apparatus bay floor.
Tanks must be stored in the apparatus bay creating the potential for contamination from vehicle exhaust.
Clean protective gear and uniforms are stored in a room used for laundry, fitness and storage allowing for possible contamination.
Chemicals, liquids and equipment are all stored on the apparatus bay floors due to lack of appropriate storage.
The maintenance area is located directly off the apparatus bay floor and occupies the hose tower.
There are no separate male, female and juvenile cells. The cells are also not sight and sound separated as required.
The cells are located across the hall from the administrative assistant's office.
If one cell becomes unusable, there is only one available cell if required.
The prisoner processing area is located directly off a main corridor which is unsecure and leads directly to the outdoors. There are multiple objects available to be used as a weapon.
The sally port, through which prisoners are brought into the station is unsecure and not complaint with ADA accessibility codes. Necessary use for storage poses a hazard for officers.
An ambulance cannot fit into the sally port which is required by law.
There is insufficient space for evidence storage which is located in the fire station apparatus bay requiring police officers to cross the apparatus bay to store evidence.
There are multiple public entries to the public safety facility, both of which are unsecured and do not provide public rest rooms. There is also no private first aid room for the fire department or private interview room for the police department off the lobbies.
The only dedicated female restroom is a single unit located in the Sergeants' office. It is not ADA accessible.
A temporary trailer houses locker rooms for the police. The fire department has no locker room facilities.
The police locker rooms are unsecure and separate from the main building. There are no locker rooms for the fire department.
This is the only training/meeting space in the facility. There is not enough room to fit either department.
The building is not compliant with multiple local, state, and federal codes including ADA accessibility.
The E911 communications servers are housed in a converted jail cell, which is an undersized and inefficient space.
The mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems are at the end of their useful lives.
The mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems are antiquated, not energy-efficient and at the end of their useful lives.
There is also no secure separation of the sally port from the public parking area.
There is a lack of storage areas.
Lack of storage has resulted in the need to purchase multiple separate storage shed facilities.
Access to the antennae base is limited due to storage of necessary supplies and equipment.
Lack of storage has resulted in the need to purchase multiple separate storage facilities. This is a shipping container enclosed in wood.
PLAINVILLE TOWN HALL
The Plainville Town Hall does not meet the needs of a modern municipal facility.
The Town Administrator's office is in a public meeting room with no security.
Multiple people share undersized offices.
The shared copier is used by all offices and is located in the Assessor's office at the public desk.
The mechanical systems are antiquated, not energy efficient and at the end of their useful lives.
The electrical system is antiquated, not energy efficient and at the end of its useful life.
The stairway to the mechanical and electrical systems very steep and not code compliant.
Alternate access to the basement is via a steep and non-code compliant bulkhead. Leaking water through bulkhead requires a sump pump to prevent flooding.
Building cooling is only via inefficient window units.
The electrical panels are located in non-secure custodial closet and are not code compliant.
The elevated, non-compliant electrical outlet is located in the middle of a floor creating a potential tripping hazard.
There are no heating and cooling controls causing drastically different temperatures throughout the building.
Numerous windows are single pane, original to the facility, in poor condition and inefficient.
The building does not meet numerous local, state and federal codes including ADA accessibility. There is no elevator in the building.
The back entrance stairs are not code compliance and the masonry is crumbling.
The access ladder is deteriorating and unsafe.
Electrical and computer wires are unsecured and create a safety hazard.
Computer wires hang from the ceiling in a shared office creating a potential hazard.
The Planner's Office is open and filled with unsecured storage.
Stored items partially block an emergency exit.
Private files are stored in the open Planner's Office.
The existing vault is undersized and does not have the room to securely store all required items.
There is only one set of restrooms on the first floor for both staff and visitors which are not handicapped accessible.
WOOD SCHOOL
The building does not meet numerous local, state, and federal codes including seismic codes required for public safety facilities.
The windows and doors are original to the building, are not energy efficient.
The windows contain hazardous materials including the caulking and glazing.
The building is used for storage and contains hazardous materials including asbestos and mold.
Large puddles of water remain on the floor after a large water leak.
Water infiltration and leaks caused staining of the ceiling and mold.
The boilers and mechanical system are inefficient and past their useful lives.
The electrical system is past its useful life, is not code compliant, and is not energy efficient.
The HVAC and plumbing systems contain hazardous materials including asbestos, and are not code compliant
The HVAC, plumbing and electrical systems are not energy efficient.
There is no elevator in the building. A chair lift on one stairwell provides the only accessible accessing between floors.
