BY STEPHEN H. COWLES/CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Playback58@gmail.com

 

WINDSOR—Windsor Town Council has hired a Richmond-based architectural and engineering firm to devise a master plan for five acres it purchased in February for $1 million.

Wiley/Wilson, which specializes in local government, town and county municipalities in need of construction, will be paid $11,000 to $13,000, said Town Manager Michael Stallings.

“This is not our building. It’s your building,” said Randal Vaughan, architect and vice president for Wiley/Wilson. “No one-size fits all.”

Located at Shirley Drive and Route 460, the land is targeted for a new police and town hall.

“We need a decision on whether to build a police station first, and wait five years and then build administrative space,” Mayor Carita Richardson said.

Wiley/Wilson will look at the needs of the police, noting that population drives the number of officers.

Vice Mayor Wesley Garris asked what helps determine space needs.

“Again, population growth,” Vaughan said. “There are so many officers for X number of people.”

Councilman N. Macon Edwards III asked if the police department should be kept separate from the town government.

Vaughan said that would depend on how the town wants to staff the building.

Police Chief Vic Reynolds asked Vaughan about his experience in creating new police stations.

“More sheriffs’ offices — nine or ten in Virginia,” said Vaughan.

He just finished one in Smith County and is doing another in Montgomery County.

The mayor expressed her admiration for the traditional building style of both the county and town of Smithfield.

“I also like traditional,” Vaughan said, explaining that ornaments such as cupolas shouldn’t be decorative, but functional.