People in Chapel Hill know this building. Next year, it will give police a safe space.
Over 100 Chapel Hill Police Department officers and staff will work in a building next year with space to help the public, fingerprint job seekers and investigate crimes without risking their health and safety.
That’s not possible in the 41-year-old station at 828 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., where even a new, $450,000 roof would only fix leaks, Police Chief Celisa Lehew said.
On Monday, a leak destroyed a computer, and a generator failed during recent severe weather, compromising the records system, Lehew said.
Last week, she pulled her own uniform out of a locker and found mildew.
Chapel Hill police carry out their mission despite “a ceiling where water pours directly into our lab, mildew on our walls, a bucket that permanently stays on the captain’s desk to catch the leaks, stained carpets from toilets that are overflowing repeatedly, and a metal plate on the floor to cover where it’s rotted out,” she said.
Leased space at The Parkline, the former Blue Cross and Blue Shield building at 1830 Fordham Blvd., near the Durham County line, will be safe, functional and accessible, Lehew said.
On Wednesday, the Town Council approved the $1.5 million lease in an 8-0 vote. The department could remain at The Parkline for up to 10 years, while the town decides how to clean up coal ash under the existing building and construct a new, permanent location.
The town will have to save up its money for that project, which could be part of a new Municipal Services Center with space for other departments and public meetings. The $82.8 million project is more than double what the work was estimated to cost a decade ago.
The cost to just build another police station is estimated at $47 million.
“Having been in your space a few times recently, we have to move. You have to move,” Council member Camille Berry said before the vote. “There’s no doubt, and I’m amazed at how long you have held off on putting this before us.”
Seeking land, better working conditions
The town has tried to site a new police headquarters for over 10 years. The outdated current station sits atop 60,000 tons of construction debris and coal ash that could cost $4 million to $6 million to clean up.
When that work is done, the town could build the Municipal Services Center there, but first there will be public hearings and council votes. Other departments that need space now, such as parks and recreation, could be relocated to other town-owned buildings, staff said. The fire department’s administrative staff could get new quarters when a new fire station is built.
Three of the town’s five fire stations no longer meet firefighting needs and should be replaced, town staff reported this year.
Rising construction costs, town debt
The cost to build a new Municipal Services Center is a major factor in the latest turn of events.
The decade-old $34 million estimate has ballooned to about $82 million. Building just a new police department could cost at least $47 million, according to town staff.
The town can’t pay that amount of debt right now, based on two key factors, staff told The News & Observer in an email Tuesday:
▪ The total amount that the town can borrow (debt capacity)
▪ Whether the town has the money available to pay back the debt, plus interest (debt affordability)
The town primarily pays its debts using 8.8 cents per $100 of its property tax rate. That could generate roughly $8.6 million this year. It also has about $11 million in its fund balance — the amount left after the town pays its bills — to help cover the gaps.
But, as of June 30, the town owed $118.1 million for construction projects and big-ticket purchases, staff said. That leaves the town with the capacity to borrow between $60 million and $65 million over the next five years. About $9 million of that is already allocated for cost overruns for the new East Rosemary Street parking deck.
That leaves roughly $50 million for new debts over the next five years.
Coal ash cleanup plans
The coal ash, likely generated by UNC’s power plant, was deposited in the 1960s and 1970s and remained undetected until a town property study in 2013.
The university has not accepted responsibility or offered to help, and state rules hold the town, as the site’s developer, responsible for cleaning up the coal ash.
In 2020, the town replaced roughly 1,000 tons of coal ash near Bolin Creek with clean dirt.
In addition to delaying future debt, moving the police to the Parkline building will ease pressure on staff working with the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality on a Brownfields agreement outlining steps the town should take, based on future plans for the land. Any contaminated soil removed from the site would be buried in a licensed landfill in another county.
Residents and environmental groups have pushed the town to clean up all of the coal ash, citing the potential hazards to human health posed by toxic metals and carcinogens.
An independent team from Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment found 19 toxic metals, including arsenic, mercury, lead, radium-226 and radium-228, all of which were three to four times higher than EPA standards.
Town consultants have tested the site multiple times in the last 10 years, finding similar results. The latest results posted on the state’s website confirmed that the site, once cleaned up, could be used for apartments, commercial buildings and civic uses.
The council has since dropped plans to build apartments and an office building on the site.
This story was originally published September 12, 2023 at 1:32 PM.
