City to purchase land by police station

NEW LONDON – The city of New London is seeking to purchase 675 square feet of land south of the New London Police station so it can repair a concrete block retaining wall in the area and provide officers an easier turn into the station’s garage.
At the Oct. 8 New London Finance & Personnel Committee meeting, it recommended to the New London Common Council that it approve purchasing 675 square feet of land south of the police station. The council was scheduled to discuss the matter at its Oct. 21 meeting.
At the committee meeting, New London City Administrator Chad Hoerth told the committee that the block retaining wall south of the police department is deteriorating.
“You can see that the retaining wall is a block wall,” Hoerth said. “It’s deteriorating. It’s kind of falling apart. We had the same situation on the west side of the building too.”
To fix the deteriorating wall on the west side, Hoerth said the city poured a concrete wall, so the city didn’t have to worry about the block wall falling apart.

Hoerth said city administration would like to have a poured concrete wall placed south of the police department.
“The benefit of that is less maintenance, and just to kind of be done with it,” Hoerth said.
The property line is right on the wall, Hoerth said.
By purchasing property south of the police department, Hoerth said it would provide more room to pour the concrete wall. It would also allow officers more turning room into the garage.
When the city contacted him, the property owner was receptive to selling some of the property, Hoerth said.
“He’s looking at selling this property in several months, by the end of this year,” Hoerth said. “So, we do have an opportunity to purchase that land.”
Hoerth said the city started off with an offer to purchase a portion of the property amounting to 675 square feet. Hoerth said he started the offer at $6.50 per square foot, which equals $4,387. The owner countered with $8 per square foot, which equals $5,400.
The funds would come from the city’s Economic Development operating budget, Hoerth said.