When Terry Guiel, executive director of the Peterborough Downtown Business Improvement Area (DBIA), first met then-new Peterborough Police Services chief Stuart Betts, he told him “We’ll get along great but if you try to move the police station out of the downtown, we’re going to war.”
Well, the first shots have been fired.
Armed with what he terms “good information” from “multiple sources,” Guiel alleges the decision on where to locate a much-needed larger and more modern police station has been made — and it’s nowhere near the downtown core.
That location, says Guiel, is the sprawling former Johnson and Johnson property on Lansdowne Street West.
“I called this out back in October 2019 when I presented to the police board,” says Guiel. “I saw some drawings for a big flat building with parking lots. I told them the only place that could go is along Highway 7 or 115 because it needs six acres. I was quoted as saying ‘It shouldn’t be out in a cow pasture.’ Well, this is pretty darn close.”
“It’s a great site for them (the police service) but it’s a terrible site for the community. It’s a terrible site for the east end. It’s a terrible site for the north end. It’s a terrible site for Lakefield. It’s a terrible site for downtown.”
On Monday (October 2), in response to Guiel and questions from local media representatives Guiel had spoken to, Chief Betts issued an email statement to address what he called “the rumour that the Peterborough Police Service is looking to relocate from the downtown.”
“Let me clear and state with clarity that, as the Chief of Police, and the chair of the Facilities Committee looking into the facility’s requirements for the Police Service, Peterborough police will now, and for the long-term, have a very large and prominent operational presence in our downtown. Any allegations to the contrary are fictitious and unfounded.”
Acknowledging that a “third party consultant” (Kingston-based Shoalts and Zaback Architects Limited) undertook a study “to provide options for properties that may be acquirable for a new police facility,” Chief Betts writes “none were suitable without a significant financial expense that exceeds the capital funds identified for a police facility in the City’s capital budget.”
“A new facilities model is being explored and, at the heart of that new model, is maintaining our operational presence downtown,” Chief Betts writes. “I have been very clear that is my expectation, and that has been supported by the (police services) board and city council.”
Chief Betts adds “speculation” to the contrary “is baseless and inappropriate, and could compromise the safety and security of our current and future policing needs.”
He concludes “I hope this will put the rumours to rest,” adding “I have demonstrated to you all that I am transparent in my approach to communication and public safety in the city, and that extends to police facilities.”
In response to Chief Bett’s email, Guiel urged more transparency on where things are at and the plan moving moving forward, writing “The downtown contributes 32 per cent to the commercial tax base. Our members pay huge towards the police budget.”
“Please invite me to the next police board meeting and answer my questions, and hear my arguments and concerns that were ignored in 2019 and are still ignored today.”
Guiel added a series of questions that he says demand answers, including how long will the downtown police station be kept active “before you must sell it,” and when will public consultations on the recommended site or sites be held.
Contacted by kawarthaNOW, Peterborough Mayor Jeff Leal — who sits on the Police Services Board and is a member of the police facility review committee — confirms “a number of sites are being looked at.”
“We’re scouring the whole downtown area to see what (site) would be suitable for a facility that would accommodate the needs of the Peterborough Police Service.”
Speaking in his capacity as mayor, he adds “There needs to be (police) footprint downtown. That’s a pretty consistent approach for all police services right across the country.”
While Mayor Leal confirmed the Shoalts and Zaback report is done, he stopped short of revealing its recommendations.
“He (Chief Betts) is still determining to this day what the service’s exact needs are going forward,” the mayor said. “He’s looking at his organization as any chief would. At the end of the day, we’ll be relying on his advice based on what he sees as the needs over the decades to come.”
“We have an obligation, both to the men and women who wear the uniform each and every day, and to the citizens of Peterborough, to clearly indicate what our plans will be.”
Also contacted for comment by kawarthaNOW were Police Services Board members Gary Baldwin and Drew Merrett, the latter a current member of the police facility review committee. Neither would confirm nor deny Guiel’s claim the former Johnson and Johnson property has been settled upon, noting any comment should come from board chair Mary ten Doeschate. A subsequent call made to her wasn’t returned by deadline.
Guiel says, if his sources are wrong, then the Shoalts and Zaback report should be made public — something that hasn’t happened yet — as proof.
“This report cost taxpayers $141,250,” says Guiel. “They were to study possible downtown locations — up to seven potential downtown-only locations. Where’s the report? I contacted Sholtz and Zaback. I contacted Mary (ten Doeschate). I contacted the chief, the mayor, and Gary Baldwin. Nothing. No one I spoke to would even confirm that the report is done.”
Guiel says a recent city council caucus meeting, during which he says a report on a property on Lansdowne Street West was provided, lends credence to what his sources have told him.
Guiel adds he has talked to central area property owners “who were keenly offering their properties” for sale for the new police station. As examples, he points to the former Baskin and Robbins location on Aylmer Street and the vacant property at the southwest corner of Park and Lansdowne streets.
“You can put something anywhere,” says Guiel. “All you need is a bulldozer, imagination, and some money. You can close down a street to make the property footprint bigger.”
Based on what he says he’s learned, Guiel says the downtown core “is being abandoned in its hour of need.”
“My job is to protect my members and the downtown and that’s what I’m doing,” explains Guiel. “I told my board that this is going to be a most major passion of mine and that this is a hill I’m prepared to die on. Our board chair (Sacha Lai-Svirk) attended a DAC (Downtown Action Committee) meeting several months ago. She gave a good report about police stations needing to be in the downtown. She gave examples of where they have been moved from the downtown and it has been a disaster.”
“It (Lansdowne Street West) is great for Millbrook and Cavan (but) downtown loses 200-plus employees that would be eating and shopping downtown, plus the people that come (to the police station) for interviews, meetings, and crash reporting,” referring to the collision reporting centre that is located in the downtown police station.
To the inferred possibility that the current downtown police station will remain in place for some police-related functions regardless of where a new station is built, Guiel maintains that’s a carrot being dangled to appease the downtown and the community, noting his assertion that an excuse to “evacuate” the downtown core and “move into their nice shiny big flat building” will follow at some point.
“A motion passed from council that passed unanimously, which they’re going against, was that it (the new police station) must be in the downtown. When I pushed the case for it being located downtown in 2019, they told me, ‘Terry, slow down. You’re ahead of yourself.’ They literally laughed at me. And now here we are.”
Situated on a 1.6 acre site, the current Peterborough police station at Water and McDonnel streets opened in 1968. In June 2021, the cost to replace the outdated building was pegged at $68 million — up substantially from the $47 million cost estimated in 2019. An earlier report recommended that a new 95,000-square-foot building be built on a six-acre site.
