Police HQ may be leaving downtown core

Facing long-documented space issues at its current location downtown, the Stratford Police Service may be leaving for a new HQ outside of the downtown core. Pictured here is the old Scotiabank building on the corner of Wright Boulevard and Lorne Avenue, which the City of Stratford just issued a letter of intent to potentially purchase as a new station. It is currently listed at $14 million, though to renovate the current George Street station it would cost between $30-40 million at minimum.

CONNOR LUCZKA, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Stratford Police Service’s headquarters may be moving from the downtown core.

During the first regular Stratford city council meeting of the new year on Jan. 12, council voted in favour of issuing a letter of intent to purchase the building known municipally as 10-52 Wright Blvd. – perhaps better known to residents as the old Scotiabank building off the corner of Lorne Avenue.

The building is currently listed on Realtor.ca at $14 million with 100,625 square feet of office and industrial space and over four acres of excess land adjacent to one of Stratford’s industrial parks.

Although nothing in the agenda indicated this was for a new police station, when discussing the item council debated the pros and cons for the service.

“I do see the potential in the location, but I do have concerns that I’m not able to reconcile,” said Coun. Cody Sebben. “Number one, I strongly believe there's no substitute for the positive community presence that comes with having our police headquarters in the downtown core. To me, moving this to the edge of the city is a big concern.

“Number two, by moving the police headquarters, along with other municipal administration, outside of the downtown core, we could possibly be removing many potential patrons from stores and restaurants and moving them to the periphery of the city, while at the same time creating a potential vacant site in the core for an indeterminant amount of time.”

Coun. Harjinder Nijjar, who also sits on the Police Services Board, told reporters that although being located downtown is an asset, the Wright Boulevard building has a lot of potential.

“The building … was built for a data centre, so it was built to handle that type of environment, so it’ll need some modification, but not to the extreme of a new building,” Nijjar said. “I think it’s a great opportunity … and also we support St. Marys. It puts us in a good location. More and more municipalities are pushing police stations to the edge of town instead of in the beat. I think we still require presence in downtown, but there’s great opportunity that we can have maybe a small satellite office in the core of the city.”

The current headquarters located at George Street and St. Patrick Street has long been overdue for more space. In November 2023, the board started the process of sourcing a new station or top-to-bottom renovation, but the space issues associated with the building go back far longer. Chief Greg Skinner has earlier stated he could find minutes dated 1991 indicating the service needed more space.

At that time, Skinner said the available and suitable space downtown – which is preferable for police – was negligible. The current station could support renovation, though likely wouldn’t be able to add space on top of the building.

Though, only last year Insp. Jason Clarke told the board that every day more things go wrong with the building, with maintenance work piling up consistently.

Speaking on Jan. 12,, Nijjar confirmed that it would cost at minimum $30-40 million to renovate the current building to modern standards.

Another factor to consider are the courts. The current police headquarters also house the Ontario Court of Justice. Nijjar indicated that it is not a given that the courts would follow police should they move from its current location.

When asked if the board has a budget or timeline for a new station, Nijjar indicated it was still early days.

“At this time, no,” Nijjar said. “The city’s going to go take a look at (the building) and see what the costing is and if it’s a yes or no. … If it has potential and it will meet police needs, then I think there'll be further discussions on that.”

The vote to issue a letter of intent passed nearly unanimously, with only Sebben holding out. Couns. Jo-Dee Burbach, Bonnie Henderson and Taylor Briscoe were not present for the vote.