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Posted on Wed, Jan 19, 2011 : 10:15 a.m.

Planners table new Chelsea police station design after two-hour discussion

By Lisa Allmendinger

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Carl Schmult, left, Chelsea's planning consultant, and George Kinzer, planning commission chairman, listen to a presentation about the proposed Chelsea police building.

Lisa Allmendinger | AnnArbor.com

Planning Commission members weren't satisfied with the design of a proposed new Chelsea police station and City Council chambers and tabled the site plan after more than two hours of discussion Tuesday night.

Planners called the building, proposed for the corner of South Main Street and East Summit, too "vanilla" and said it didn't match the character of surrounding buildings. They also said it was too close to the street.

The proposed building of about 6,600 square feet is projected to cost from $2 million to $2.5 million and would be a few blocks from the current police headquarters and next to the Chelsea State Bank building. The plan has gone through several changes and is about 20 percent smaller than the original design.

Earlier plans for the station gave rise to citizen opposition that stalled the project last year.

The proposed façade drew the most comments from Chelsea Planning Commission members Tuesday night.

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The site plan for the proposed Chelsea police station.

Lisa Allmendinger | AnnArbor.com

“It looks like a pretty modern building to me for the downtown,” said Anne Valle, who used the Chelsea State Bank as an example of a building with appealing detail around windows and doors. “I’m not saying we have to make it match the bank, but there are details there that break up the building.

“This is a not a fast food restaurant … it needs character and honors what Chelsea is - a very unique community.”

Planning Commissioner Casey Blair agreed. “I’d like to see you dress up the plaza with landscaping. I’d like to see something that’s a more fitting presentation than just a building.”

Planning Commission Chairman George Kinzer called the plan “pretty vanilla” and suggested that façade details from nearby buildings be incorporated into the design to make the structure better resemble neighboring Main Street brick buildings such as Merkle Furniture and the McKune building.

“I look at this (the building) as being really important to us,” said Planning Commissioner Sarah Haselschwardt. “This is our one chance to get it right.”

She complained about the closeness of the building to Main Street. “Pull it back (from the road) and address its corner location,” she said. “Our approach to the city comes mostly from the south, and the building sits so close to Main Street. It’s the first thing people will see.”

Zoning and Planning Administrator Jim Drolett said the Planning Commission was willing to give “wiggle room" on the building's design but not on the setbacks.”

Commissioners also asked designers to try to find a way to reduce the potential for car headlights to shine into the windows of a nearby home when visitors leave the site, and requested the number of parking spaces be reduced.

“The impact on the residential area is so important to the neighborhood,” Blair said.

City Manager John Hanifan said the plan has seven more parking spaces than the current police station.

The building will have a finished lower level and the entrance off a current parking lot on the site. A driveway will remain in its current location.

Currently, the police department is housed in a small storefront building at 104 East Middle Street, and the City Council meets at the Washington Street Education Center.

It’s expected that a revised site plan will come before the Planning Commission on Feb. 15.

The new building will replace the current station located at 104 E. Middle St., which has housed the police station since 1941. The building was built in 1901. Police Chief Ed Toth has said the building is unsafe and woefully inadequate for the Police Department's needs.

A divided City Council approved building a new Chelsea police station in August. Supporters cited the dilapidated condition of the current building. Opponents said it was the wrong time to spend money on a new police station given the current economic climate.

Lisa Allmendinger is a reporter with AnnArbor.com. She can be reached at lisaallmendinger@annarbor.com. For more Chelsea stories, visit our Chelsea page.

Comments

Tim

Sun, Feb 20, 2011 : 8:09 p.m.

I agree that the police need a new facilty, but like most the location dosn,t make sense to me? The other vacant buildings around town are more productive to me and cost effictive. I am sure there is a good reason for this site. Maybe it's the optic cable cost to run the comunication and network systems to and from the city offices. Anyway, good luck with the new building and new construction in town. I looking forward to more jobs and people moving into the city of chelsea not out of the city. Who knows maybe soon well get a Costco or a Kroger store that would be great. Will there be a traffic signal put at this intersection?

Lisa Allmendinger

Thu, Jan 20, 2011 : 6:35 p.m.

The architect on this project is Architect Design, Robert Overhiser of Ann Arbor.

rp

Thu, Jan 20, 2011 : 4:27 p.m.

Why not make use of all the empty buildings in Chelsea? Old BookCrafters building, Palmers downtown plus Palmers truck lot. Truck lot would be good, close to I-94. At 5:00, rush hour not a good place for police station.

CobraII

Thu, Jan 20, 2011 : 3:32 p.m.

Its across the street from a closed car dealer; who cares how vanilla it is!!! Get it built, the city doesn't have the money to build something like the bank.

MichGirl

Thu, Jan 20, 2011 : 2:28 p.m.

I am probably one of those who doesn't really like the idea of building this new police station on this corner, but given that it seems to be going forward anyway, I'd at least like to commend the Planning commission for delaying things until it'd done right. Detail does matter and if details like "too close to the road" and "wrong exterior facade" aren't done right from the start, we'll have to live with those bad decisions in the long run. So I say, take your time, get it right, hold their feet to the fire and thanks for doing your job, planning commission. BTW, I may have missed something, but is there a reason that the city didn't consider doing something with the old Palmer Ford building and location?

SMAIVE

Thu, Jan 20, 2011 : 11:43 a.m.

Well, so much for staying within budget. Bet the architect(s) are enjoying adding on all those billable hours.