The new Hanover Police station will be larger than initially planned, which means the proposed cost of the project has also gone up.
This week, council for the Town of Hanover approved a revised project budget up to a total of $11.3 million plus HST for the new station, which will now be about 15,500 square feet. Original plans made in 2024 were for a 12,000 square foot facility for a cost of about $8.73 million
Police Chief Chris Knoll acknowledged that building a new station has taken a backseat to other projects, but said the service really needs an upgraded home.
"I think we are to the point now where we need a new facility," he told council. "There is not a square inch of our current station that is not being used. We have converted closet space into secure property storage. We've just really outgrown that building. Having said that, being in there 46 years, I think that building has served is well."
Despite the expansion of the project, which will now include an exterior secure storage building for recovered property, the long-term funding of the project remains the same.
Director of Corporate Services Jelena Savic told council that they'll be using a provincial loan over a 30-year-term.
"The way that Infrastructure Ontario works, is that you've got the construction loan, you pay interest on that loan, and when construction is substantially completed, the loan is closed and the term is fixed," she explained to council. "The strategy is to see what the costs are as they come in, look at what our reserve position is, look at what our investment portfolio looks like, see at the time what the interest rates are, and kind of model out how much makes sense to prepay and how much makes sense to convert into a debenture."
Savic projected "substantial completion" of the project would be in 2027, and that their annual debt servicing cost would be around $650,000.
The new station will be built at the former firehall on 10th Avenue. Staff will now begin the process of putting it out to tender.
