Public Safety Infrastructure Bond

Voters are being asked to authorize up to $50 million in bonds, with a maximum repayment period of 20 years, to build new Public Safety buildings.

The new Police Department would be built in the current parking lot between Township Hall and the 48th District Court. Police moving out of Township Hall would create space for Bloomfield Community Television (BCTV). BCTV's current building would then be renovated for Animal Welfare. This approach allows the Township to address several facility needs while making better use of existing buildings.

Fire Station #3 would remain in the area of Maple Road and Telegraph.

The Township identified both facilities as immediate public-safety needs and included them together in the Public Safety Infrastructure Bond.

If voters approve the proposal, construction is expected to begin in 2027 and be completed in 2029. For the average residential property in Bloomfield Township, the estimated first-year tax increase would be approximately $128.96.

These are not new problems. The Police Department has outgrown its existing space, and Fire Station #3 can no longer adequately accommodate today's apparatus, staffing, and operations.

The Township has maintained, renovated, and adapted both facilities for decades. Those investments extended their useful lives, but additional repairs and temporary fixes cannot solve the underlying space and infrastructure problems.

The space-utilization studies found that renovation or expansion could not provide the space and specialized infrastructure required for modern Police and Fire operations. The recommended approach was to build new where specialized public-safety needs require it and reuse existing Township buildings where renovation makes sense.

No. A new Township Hall is not part of the Public Safety Infrastructure Bond proposal. Police would move into a separate, freestanding headquarters. The space Police vacates in Township Hall would be renovated for other Township operations, including Bloomfield Community Television and Planning, Building and Ordinance.

The proposed bond would provide up to $50 million for construction of the new Police Department and Fire Station #3.

Separately, the Township has approximately $23 million in capital reserves available for renovations and remodeling of existing Township buildings associated with the relocations. Those projects include repurposing the current Police space in Township Hall and renovating the existing BCTV building for Animal Welfare.

The Township has also secured $1.5 million in state grant funding related to Fire Station #3.

For more than two decades, Township leaders have recognized that the Police Headquarters and Fire Station #3 would eventually require significant investment or replacement. The Township has been preparing financially for these facility needs for approximately six years.

Beginning in 2024, independent assessments and professional consultations examined current operations, building limitations, and future space needs. They concluded that additional repairs, remodeling, or expansion would not provide a practical long-term solution for either facility.

Police and Fire would continue operating from their current facilities, and the existing space, infrastructure, operational, and safety limitations would remain.

If voters approve the proposal, the Township would move forward with final design, engineering, bidding, and construction of the new Police Headquarters and Fire Station #3. Construction is expected to begin in 2027, with completion anticipated in 2029.

Police would remain in its current headquarters while the new Police building is constructed. A temporary operations plan would be developed to maintain Fire and EMS service while Station #3 is constructed.

No. The debt payments on the bond would be funded through the voter-approved debt millage. The millage is specifically levied to repay the bonds and is separate from the Township’s regular operating millage.

Residents will be able to follow project costs and construction progress through the Township’s Public Safety Infrastructure Bond, which will provide project information, updates, and photos. Township Board packets will also include related financial information.

Police has outgrown the current building, and the lack of space affects day-to-day operations. Prisoner processing, evidence handling, 911 Dispatch, technology, training, secure parking, and operations all require space and infrastructure the current building was not designed to provide.

The independent space assessment identified a need for approximately 58,800 square feet for Police operations alone. The entire existing building - which Police shares with Township administrative offices - is only about 32,000 square feet. Only about 17,000 of those square feet are dedicated to Police operations. In fact, Police operate out of three buildings due to the lack of space.

The issue is not simply wanting a larger building. The space is needed to support modern Police operations safely and effectively.

The Police Department was last significantly expanded in 1968 and later renovated in the l970s. Smaller renovations and modifications have been made since then as Police operations have changed.

The new Police Department would be built in the parking lot between Township Hall and the 48th District Court.

For decades, the Township has remodeled and adapted the Police Department to make the most of the available space. Those fixes have reached their limit. The independent space assessment concluded that another major renovation or expansion is not a practical long-term solution. Modern Police operations require specialized space for 911, evidence, prisoner processing, technology, security, and other functions that ordinary office renovations cannot provide.

Bloomfield Township already has strong Police response times. The Public Safety Infrastructure Bond is not primarily about getting an officer to a call faster.

The Bond’s focus is about strengthening the systems and facilities that support that response before, during, and after a call - including 911, investigations, evidence, training, technology, and emergency operations.

For example, a new Police Headquarters could provide stronger backup power, greater system redundancy, and more resilient infrastructure to help keep 911 operating during severe weather, power outages, equipment failures, and other emergencies.

Police regularly meets with crime victims, witnesses, families, and residents about sensitive and sometimes deeply personal matters.

Today, a resident reporting a domestic dispute or other private matter may have to speak with an officer in the vestibule or in a nearby space that was not designed for confidential conversations.

A new Police Headquarters would provide dedicated interview rooms where residents can speak with officers privately and securely, reducing the risk of being seen, overheard, or interrupted.

Evidence must be properly received, processed, stored, and protected. Purpose-built evidence areas improve security and help protect the chain of custody from the time evidence enters the building until it leaves. Maintaining a clear chain of custody is critical to protecting the integrity of evidence used in criminal investigations and prosecutions.

Bloomfield is one of only a handful of area police departments that does not have a secure police parking area.

A secure Police parking area would separate public traffic from prisoners, Police vehicles, evidence, employees, and other secure operations. None of the approximately 74 current Police parking spaces is inside a secure Police lot.

Fire Station #3 was built in 1960, with an addition to the apparatus bay in 1978. The station was designed around smaller fire trucks and equipment. Some modern apparatus cannot fit through the existing bay doors, and the bays are not deep enough to properly accommodate reserve vehicles.

The station also lacks features now used to reduce firefighters' exposure to contaminants brought back from emergency scenes. It has significant limitations involving decontamination, turnout-gear storage, staffing space, equipment storage, technology, HVAC, electrical systems, and other firefighter health and safety needs.

Fire Station #3 would remain near Maple & Telegraph.

It is critical. Roughly 46% of the Township’s residential population is within Station #3’s service area. Station #3 handles more than 2,000 calls each year in its primary response area. Its crews also respond to more than 1,000 additional incidents outside of its response area.

A clean-station design separates contaminated equipment and gear from the areas where firefighters live and work.

Firefighters can encounter smoke, soot, carcinogens, and other harmful contaminants at an emergency scene. Those contaminants can remain on turnout gear, clothes and equipment and be carried back into the station.

Modern fire stations use separate decontamination, gear-storage, and living areas to reduce that exposure. Proper turnout-gear storage helps keep contaminants out of kitchens, sleeping quarters, offices, and other clean spaces.

The existing station was designed for a different era of staffing and does not provide appropriate facilities for today's workforce.

A new station would provide appropriate restrooms, locker and changing areas, sleeping quarters, storage, decontamination areas, and safer living and working spaces.

Police moving out would create space in Township Hall for other Township operations.

BCTV would move into available Town Hall space. The building they currently occupy would then be renovated for Animal Welfare, addressing the needs of the approximately 50-year-old Animal Shelter without constructing another new building.

Renovation for the Animal Shelter would include adding much needed “dog runs.”

Police could continue operating from its current headquarters while the new Police Headquarters is built.

Because Fire Station #3 would be rebuilt on its existing site, Fire and EMS operations would need to move temporarily during construction. The specific temporary location and operations plan would be developed as part of final design and construction planning to maintain uninterrupted Fire and EMS coverage.