Residents had their say Tuesday on a zoning amendment that would pave the way for a new police training facility in the city of Buffalo.
The $5 million facility is slated for a vacant city-owned property in the shadow of the Central Terminal in the Broadway-Fillmore neighborhood. Renovations will be paid for by bonds already approved by the Buffalo Common Council.
Though detailed plans for the project are not yet public, the three-story building is expected to include classroom space, a gym and an indoor gun range to help train members of the Buffalo Police Department.
Fillmore District Councilmember, Mitch Nowakowski, supports the plan.
"I know that structure like the back of my hand. It's a clunker," he said. "To get someone in there, to be able to go in there to adaptively reuse it would be a sheer magnitude of millions of dollars, and that's why the prior operator could not make it a use. It was a vacant, blighted city structure in our inventory. And where I am honing in the most is listening to the residents that directly live across the street from it. They are supportive of it."
The 1.2 acre site on Paderewski Drive is in an area currently zoned for residential use only. But the city is trying to re-zone the site to allow the renovations. Matthew Austin lives in the Fillmore District and spoke at a public hearing on the rezoning amendment in the council's legislation committee meeting, Tuesday. He opposes the plans.
"I'm not anti police. I think the police need training, but why do they need to be trained in a residential zone?" he asked.
But those who live close to the property support the project according to nearby resident and President of the Central Terminal Neighborhood Association, Chris Hawley, who is also an urban planner with the city. In June, members met with BPD representatives to share suggestions about the site plans, including making sure neighbors won't hear noise from the gun range.
"We feel confident that these recommendations are being implemented to the greatest extent practicable, helping ensure that the police training facility will be a good fit for Broadway Fillmore," Hawley said.
State law mandates that once on the job, police officers must receive deadly force and firearms training at least once per year. The BPD does not currently have its own gun range and Nowakowski estimates the department currently spends $175,000 or more annually to rent facilities in surrounding municipalities.
"The City of Buffalo needs to start looking outwards. Why don't we start charging other municipalities to use our training facility and be in the driver's seat instead of paying other municipalities when it's good for them?" Nowakowski said.
The council will vote on the re-zoning amendment in September.
