Ta Dah!, First Look at Tarrytown’s New Village Hall

For anyone who has been going to the current Village Hall at 21 Wildey Street for various business or tax matters, or the Police Department at l50 Franklin Street, the difference between the new building at One Depot Plaza (across from the Railroad station) and the Wildey Street and Franklin Street properties is beyond dramatic.

images"Sensational" is a better word.

Sometime in late June or July, the 22,000 square foot building will open, housing both the Police Department and most Village Administration personnel. The building footage will be split evenly between the new police headquarters and the Village staff. In the middle of the building centered between both areas is an auditorium that will seat nearly 60 for either legal matters or public Village meetings. And, at last, there will be an audio system that will allow all activities and presentations to be clearly heard and delivered.

On the first floor in the Village area is much of the legal-oriented space needed on a daily basis, including the judge’s quarters, jury conference room and court administration area. Also on the first floor will be the Business Office, Village Clerk and the Treasurer. On the second floor is the Village Administrator, the Village Engineer and the Building Department. On the police side of the building, the first floor contains the carport which brings prisoners to the station, six holding cells, and the detective division. It can be noted here that the Village section and the Police section at no point have access to one another internally, eliminating any possibility of prisoners mixing with the public or other non-police personnel. On the second floor will be the men’s and women’s locker rooms for the current 33 male officers and 2 female officers, the squad room, the exercise room, the chief’s office and the department conference room. While the Village administration will move in shortly, the police will move later in the Fall. The Administration is still not certain what the final use of the old police station will be. Several ideas have been proposed including a shooting range, a training center, even a much needed storage area, since so much past record keeping must be maintained by law.

There have been a number of suggestions made over the years as to where or what buildings might be used or bought by the Village for housing both departments. In the final analysis, this has probably been the answer to a long-standing problem, i.e., that 21 Wildey Street and 150 Franklin Street have become unacceptable and antiquated for normal working conditions. Over the years, a number of other buildings have been considered, some too expensive, others too difficult to turn into an acceptable office structure. One of the problems that arose with the current location is that there is no basement in the building. The water table at this riverside location would not permit a basement. This has put additional pressure on the storage needs for the facility. Another possible negative factor in the minds of many commuters is the amount of parking that has been diminished by the project. However, Village Administrator Michael Blau pointed out that, in fact, with additional parking on the West side of the tracks, there is now more space than ever for local train parking.

Finally, many resident have been concerned with a total cost that has come to nearly 9 million dollars, but if a decision waited another ten years, that total could very well have doubled. In this case, there is at least one mitigating contribution from National RE/sources that has lowered the final cost by 1 million dollars. Nevertheless, whatever the actual mitigated number turns out to be, Tarrytown now has what it has needed for a long time: a Village Hall that is in the right place at the right time.

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About the Author: Arnold Thiesfeldt