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Seabrook council directs staff to advance $15M police station and $3M pool for May 2025 bond
Summary
Council voted to move ahead with bond planning for a new police station and a reconstructed municipal pool, directing architects to refine designs, show alternate police-station sites and include pool facade options; staff estimated roughly $15 million for the police station and about $3 million for a new pool.
Seabrook City Council on Nov. 19 directed staff to proceed with bond planning for a proposed new police station and the reconstruction of the municipal pool, setting the city on a path toward a May 2025 election.
City staff and Randall Scott Architects presented a reduced, 22,000-square-foot police station design that would move operations out of a flood-prone, aging 1996 facility. Randall Scott recommended budgeting about $15,000,000 for the total police-station project after presenting construction-only estimates of $10.6 million to $11.7 million and identifying required fees and testing that raise the full-project cost. Chief Ralph Nelson described cramped, flood-damaged quarters at the existing station, saying the evidence room “is at capacity” and noting a single shower per gender and two dispatch consoles as operational vulnerabilities.
Council and staff debated site choices and flood risk. Staff said using city-owned land keeps costs lower and limits the total budget pressure while moving to non-city property could increase cost estimates to $17–18 million. The architect said the proposed site would allow future horizontal expansion and include security features such as a sally port and a six-foot perimeter wall for vehicle and staff parking.
On the municipal pool, staff and consultants presented option comparisons. A repair estimate to address underground piping and bring the existing pools up to code was described at roughly $800,000 but with limited remaining life; full reconstruction to meet FEMA and code requirements was estimated at about $3,000,000. Council directed staff to include pool reconstruction plus an optional facade/entrance upgrade in bond planning and asked for renderings and detailed options from the pool architect.
City finance staff reviewed preliminary bond scenarios prepared by the city’s financial advisor, modeling a 4.25% interest assumption. In a combined $18 million scenario (police station plus pool), staff said the immediate impact to the debt portion of the tax rate would be modestly higher—roughly five cents—before declining in later years as older debt is retired. If council calls the election in February 2025, staff said, the bond sale could close in mid-2025 and construction would likely complete well into 2027.
Council’s action authorized staff to re-engage architects, analyze alternate police-station properties, and prepare proposition language and public-education steps needed if the council calls an election in February.
