Plan for new police HQ taking too long, say board members 

Members of the Halifax Board of Police Commissioners voted Monday to move forward with planning for a new Halifax Regional Police (HRP) headquarters, but several board members complained about how long the project is taking. 

“I’ve been on record saying this has taken too long. Everything takes time, but I feel like we’ve been talking about the need for a headquarters for far too long,” said commissioner Becky Kent, who represents district three on Halifax Regional Council. 

A report presented by HRM director of facility construction Philip Dugandzic outlines that pre-design work will take another 12 to 14 months. 

Following that, the design phase and awarding construction contracts are expected to take two and a half years, with an additional two to three years for construction. 

“Chief, you’ll be retired by the time we put a shovel in the ground . . . so we’ve got to figure out a way to do this faster,” said deputy mayor Tony Mancini to police Chief Don MacLean. 

According to the report, the current police headquarters — the David P. MacKinnon building on Gottingen Street in downtown Halifax, built in 1975 — can no longer meet the needs of Halifax Regional Police. 

Dugandzic explained that the new project’s timeline was designed to properly accommodate the needs that the old station cannot meet. 

“Police facilities are specialized and require unique design, capacity, accessibility, and technical and operational considerations,” he said. 

Currently, police services are spread out over nine locations throughout the municipality. 

Architectural studies from a report in 2018, as well as a more recent update, recommend consolidating operations into one or two locations. This, the report suggests, would be the most cost-effective solution and would improve police efficiency. 

Four municipally owned sites were originally brought forward. Three of the sites were shortlisted for further analysis. Those three locations include Cowie Hill, Burnside Industrial Park and an expansion of the current headquarters on Gottingen Street across the street to the Centennial Pool’s location. 

The need for the new facility has been heightened by population growth, which has surpassed projections in the initial 2018 report. This has led to an increased need for more police officers and additional space to accommodate them. 

In an effort to shorten the timeline, some board members suggested alternatives, such as multiple smaller locations, similar to the current dispersed model, or combining the police headquarters with a training facility for the Halifax fire department. 

“I really think we’re not being . . . creative enough in how we’re going to get a police headquarters,” Mancini said. “I’m concerned we’re not being creative enough in understanding the design and exploring other options.” 

Other board members backed the current plan, noting that the timeliest approach at this stage is to move forward with the three remaining potential sites. 

“We don’t want to slow down again,” said Kent. “Our communities need the force, and police service delivery needs to be provided from a state-of-the-art facility that’s ready — and ready quickly, faster than we’ve moved this along in the past.” 

The funding for the new facility’s development will be debated during Wednesday’s budget committee meeting.