$13 million allotted for new Baldwin precinct

The roller coaster saga of Baldwin’s First Precinct has crested again, this time with the announcement of a new $13 million building to be constructed on the parking lot of the existing law enforcement structure.

A decade of proposing and re-proposing various visions for revamping the First Precinct has included everything from moving the facility to shutting it down or reducing it in size. The current idea, announced this week by Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano, is to build a new, 25,000-square-foot, fully staffed station house in Baldwin, and to turn the Kellogg house — the historic home that was, until recently, slated for demolition to make room for the new police building— into a community center.

The new plan reverses an idea the county spent much of last year promoting — that police station houses are largely outdated because officers do most of their work from their patrol cars. Police officials made a tour of community groups and civic meetings explaining that Baldwin’s First Precinct could be merged with Seaford’s Seventh Precinct without affecting public safety. The mergers were to save the county around $20 million deriving from the elimination of around 100 desk jobs. 

The number of precinct houses in Nassau County was indeed reduced from eight to five, but when the Seaford station flooded last October during Hurricane Sandy, the county reconsidered its decision to shutter the Baldwin building. The county will borrow money to help realize the new projects ,and construction bids are due Sept. 10. Mangano said he will present the best plan to the legislature on Sept. 23, and construction is scheduled to begin next month. The new precinct opening is tentatively slated for March of 2015.