By Max Bryan
The Detroit News
BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Fire uniforms stained with soot and smoke sit on the floor in the laundry room next to the main engine bay at Bloomfield Township’s Fire Station No. 3 on Maple Road near Telegraph.
Ideally, those uniforms, which contain carcinogens that can cause cancer, would be in a separate space, but the station doesn’t have room for that. Built in 1960, it was constructed before it was best practice to keep sooty gear separate, said Bloomfield Township Fire Chief John LeRoy.
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“You don’t want to bring any of that into the living space of the station anymore,” said LeRoy.
Having a dedicated space for used fire equipment is just one of several things LeRoy hopes will be fixed if township residents give the OK next month to a $50 million bond to pay for a new fire station No. 3 near its current location at Maple and Telegraph roads.
The Nov. 3 bond question would also generate funds for a new police station, which would be built between the township’s existing town hall on Telegraph Road and the 48th District Court building. The police department now shares space with the township hall.
If voters say yes, the bond would net no more than $50 million to build the new facilities. The township would use money from its capital reserves for additional construction costs. It would last up to 20 years.
Officials estimate the tax in the first year will be 0.235 mills, while the estimated average required to retire the bonds is 0.438 mills, according to a fact sheet from the township. If passed, the millage would cost an owner of a home with a taxable value of $294,450 roughly $128.96 in taxes per year.
The bond question comes as public safety officials have expressed a need for more spacious quarters — something they say is necessary to serve residents and accommodate personnel.
“This has been a constant conversation,” said Police Chief James Gallagher.
The police department, which now shares space with the Bloomfield Township offices, has 67 sworn personnel and additional support staff operating out of a building that was originally constructed in 1938. It was added on to in 1968 and again in 1998, said Gallagher.
As it currently stands, the station has cramped quarters. An interview room sits just feet away from the lobby, which Gallagher says is problematic if a detective has to interview a child who has been abused. A sally port can only hold one police cruiser, frequently causing a backup of two or three cruisers sitting outside. And there’s a locker room for female officers that wasn’t in the original building plan.
The new police station is estimated to cost around $43 million, said Gallagher. The old building would be repurposed as an additional municipal building, he said.
“It’s not about the services we provide on the road all the time. We already have a great response time. It’s about the efficiencies and effectiveness we are as a police department policing in 2026 and the next 50 years instead of policing in a 1960s building in 2026,” he said.
Inadequate accommodations for women is also an issue at Fire Station No. 3, which has one sleeping cubicle for female firefighters. Like the police station, the fire station was built before women were commonly in the profession, said LeRoy, the fire chief.
The station also needs quarters better designed to keep contaminated gear and uniforms separate from the living quarters and with more space to accommodate fire engines that are out of service, LeRoy said.
“If anybody walks into this station, they can tell it is aged and fulfilled its service life,” the fire chief said. “What’s going to happen here is we’re going to continue to operate until one, we can’t buy a fire truck that will fit into the station, or we’ll just have to change our ways to keep doing it.”
The fire station would cost between $10 million and $11 million to replace, LeRoy said.
“The further we push this down the road for our residents, the more money it’s going to cost,” Gallagher said.
While township officials had considered also building a new Township Hall with the bond along with a new fire station and police headquarters, they decided against it.
“I am not interested in building a new town hall,” said Bloomfield Township Supervisor Mike McCready at the Aug. 10 board of trustees meeting. “I think the town hall we have is very sufficient.”
Bond proposals to replace dated and cramped police and fire facilities have had mixed success in Metro Detroit.
Novi voters approved a $120 million bond last fall to build a new public safety headquarters, two new fire stations and modernize another station. But voters in both Troy and Livonia have rejected bond proposals in the last two years that would’ve generated funds to build new public safety facilities, among other improvements.
If the Bloomfield Township bond proposal is approved, Bloomfield Township officials would likely seek bids for a construction manager and architect in early 2027. Construction would begin in 2028 and would likely be complete by late 2029 or early 2030.
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