By Corinne Saunders | Outer Banks Voice on April 19, 2023
Council seeks more information on paring new construction
Kitty Hawk Interim Police Chief James Helms shares concerns over cutting the training room from the new police building at the special called April 17 town council meeting. (Photo by Corinne Saunders)
The Kitty Hawk Town Council unanimously voted to move $2.5 million from the Town’s General Fund balance into the police building fund during a special meeting on April 17. The council tabled taking any further action, however, until it receives more information from the architectural firm about paring down new construction at the new police facility on the former Sentara Medical Center site.
Prior to the meeting, $1,356,025 was already set aside for the police department building fund. After a half-hour discussion, council members voted to move $2.5 million from the $4 million General Fund into that fund. That bumped the total project budget to just over $3.8 million, which members said should get the project through Phase 1—the first of what were three anticipated construction phases.
“Just remember, just because we have a budget doesn’t mean we have to spend every single penny,” noted Liliana Noble, finance director for the Town of Kitty Hawk.
What emerged from the April 17 council meeting is the sense that there are still many unanswered questions about the new police building project on the former Sentara site—including its scope, cost and a construction timetable.
It is also unclear what will happen to the current police building on West Kitty Hawk Road after the department moves. “We do not have a firm plan regarding the current building at is time,” Kitty Hawk Town Manger Melody Clopton told the Voice via email after the meeting.
Kitty Hawk purchased the former Sentara Medical Center from Pasquotank County for $4.1 million in September 2022, with plans to move its police services there. The current police building on Kitty Hawk Road has flooded in several hurricanes.
The northern part of the Sentara building was demolished in January 2023 due to significant issues with mold. The southern portion—which had renovations and upgrades in 2014—was retained, with plans for use by the police department and for medical office space. Bear Drugs has a continuing lease for its location in the building as well.
The Town held a groundbreaking ceremony last October. But further progress at the new location has been slow.
- Currently, Phase 1 of the project involves the building renovation and some new construction—including a police training room, an interview room, a lobby, a receptionist room and a storage room.
- Phase 2, according to the current schematic, includes Animal Control hoteling, two kennels, two bunk rooms with a shared toilet, a detainee processing room and two holding rooms.
- Phase 3 includes a firing range, a garage, a storage room, a long-term storage room and a mechanical room.
The most recent estimated cost for all three phases, as discussed at the Kitty Hawk Town Council’s April 4 meeting, totaled $4.88 million, which includes $1.9 for the building renovation, $1.9 for the building addition and $1.08 million for the site work, Clopton told theVoice.
Clopton also said that she will reach out to Dills Architects and have them focus on Phase 1 and “try to pare down some of the new construction, which is the most expensive, and focus more on the renovation.”
Prior to the schematic discussed this month, the original cost estimate for Phase 1 was $5.9 to $7.3 million. “Council was concerned about that price and being able to afford that, so we went back to the drawing board,” Clopton said in the Voice interview, noting that the new construction portion of the project was reduced from 6,000 square feet to 4,371 square feet.
A timeline for construction is also not known, as it “was never discussed specifically,” she told the Voice. The estimate for total construction time for all three phases was 270-330 days, “so it might be less than that as the building is pared down.”
Dills Architects would be thedesigner of record for the project if the council awards the contract.Dills woulddevelop design documents and construction documents, as well as oversee the engineering process for all of the systems (including structural, plumbing, mechanical, electrical, civil and interior design service), according to Clopton’s April 17 presentation.
In addition, Dills would also oversee construction bids and the constructionprocess, serving as “the liaison between the Town and the contractor,” Clopton told the Voice.
During the April 17 meeting, Mayor Craig Garriss tried to alleviate concerns about the cost of the project, noting that “There is a perception among some that this council is going to break the town financially. I can assure you that is not going to happen. Every member of this council is fully aware of the money we have on hand, as well as projected money for the future.”
Still some frustration with the process emerged during the meeting.
“Three meetings now, we have tried to come up and streamline this, and we are no further along than we were three months ago,” Pruitt said. “I have yet to understand this. Personally I think we ought to go to Phase 1 and that’s it.”
