New Station Groundbreaking For Mendham Township Police Department

MENDHAM, NJ — Mendham Township Police Department is one step closer to its brand new facility, after breaking ground on Monday for its new station.

Local officials and police officers placed their ceremonial shovels into the ground on the land where the building, the first brand new one the department has been housed in since its establishment in 1956, is planned for construction.

The police department called the upcoming structure its “first ever new facility,” in a social media post about the groundbreaking, noting that the current police station has been in a split-level converted house built in the 1950s. Two trailers are among the police department’s present complex.

“This has been a long road but we are excited for this investment in our community and our township,” the police department wrote.

J.R. Contracting and Environmental Consulting will be the contractor for the project, to build the new police station on the land, where a former split-level converted house had been as well.

The new station to be located on 4 West Main Street, is part of a larger upgrade plan, which will include the Town Hall, with the municipal offices and library.

Contractor costs are not expected to exceed $2,189,000, per a bid from Cornerstone Architectural Group.

The current station does not have a holding room and has residential-style restrooms. The station has battled flooding in both the evidence and reception rooms, rotting floors and issues with rodents.

Click the link here to view a video that shows the conditions the officers of the Mendham Township Police Department have dealt with in their building.

According to a previous news release from Mendham Township Mayor Sarah Neibart about the project, with the new station in the Brookside Historic District, the Township Committee worked with the Construction Project Exterior Design Advisory Committee, which collaborated with Cornerstone Architectural Group between Dec. 2020 and March 2021, on a final design.

The new police department building’s parking lot will be accessible from the municipal building parking lot, where police vehicles - as well as officers’ personal vehicles - will be parked, as part of maintaining “the historic fabric of the Brookside Historic neighborhood,” Neibart said.

The historic Town Hall, almost a century old, where municipal offices and the library are located, needs a new roof, windows, boiler and compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Click here for more information about the upgrades to Town Hall and the police department. See Cornerstone Architectural Group's final report here about the Town Hall and police department projects.

The police station construction is expected to be finalized over the summer of 2022.

Questions or comments about this story? Have a news tip? Contact me at: jennifer.miller@patch.com.