Volume 18, Number 28
Berlin’s Only Hometown Newspaper
www.berlincitizen.com
Thursday, August 14, 2014
Police invite citizens to tour department By Charles Kreutzkamp The Berlin Citizen
The Berlin Police Department has been req u e s t i n g a n u p d ate d facility for 20 years, and on Aug. 5 The Berlin Citizen visited the facility. According to Berlin Police Chief Paul Fitzgerald, police are leading public tours of the department every month through November and welcome the opportunity to inform the public about the condition of the station. Deputy Chief John led the tour, which is available as a video tour at http://tinyurl.com/BPDTour14. A public hearing on funding for the new police station project at $21 million was scheduled for Aug. 12 and was to occur after press time. For a breakdown, visit TheBerlinCitizen.com. Throughout the police
department, rooms that used to serve one purpose have been divided to support multiple purposes and equipment and files are stored on top of file cabinets and lockers. Some of the major deficiencies the department faces are in interview spaces and lockup facilities. There is currently only one female cell and three male cells. Suspects can be rearranged if necessary, but males and females cannot be housed in the same environment, and, furthermore, juveniles must be separated from adults, Klett said. In the 70’s, the dispatch facility was “the Taj Mahal,” Klett said, but the old radio equipment has since been replaced by much more bulky computer equipment. The current facility can only house two See Tour / Page 10
Construction on Depot Crossing is nearing completion. | Charles Kreutzkamp / The Berlin Citizen
Depot Crossing nearly finished By Charles Kreutzkamp The Berlin Citizen
Depot Crossing, Berlin’s first mixed-use transit-oriented project, is nearing completion. The building will feature residential space on upper levels and commercial space on the first floor. This type of “mixed use” building is new for Berlin, and regulations proposed to Planning and Zoning from the Economic Development Commission would allow
similar projects near the train station, where the New Haven Hartford Springfield Line is expected to enter service by 2016. “We’re finishing off the building,” CIL Development President Marty Legault said. Legault said that units have not yet been marketed, but that there has been substantial interest. A quarter of the apartments will be reserved for low-income families. “I think the units are going to go very quickly,” Legault said. Thus far, there have been
fewer inquiries about the commercial space than the apartments, but more are expected once construction is finished and marketing efforts begin. “We are all very pleased with the progress to date,” Town Manager Denise McNair said. Although the Depot-Crossing project is a for-profit venture and pays all applicable taxes, it is owned and operated by the non-profit CIL, See Crossing / Page 9
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