Public forum is planned for Wednesday at MHS 

MELROSE — Ahead of a September 25 public forum, the City of Melrose announced that Mayor Jen Grigoraitis’ Public Safety Facilities Advisory Committee (PSFAC) unanimously recommended the site of the Beebe School on West Foster Street as the best location for a new Melrose Police Department (MPD) Headquarters. 

All residents and stakeholders are invited join to city officials, architects and members of the mayor’s Public Safety Facilities Advisory Committee for a Town Hall-style meeting on Wednesday, September 25 at 6 p.m. to learn more about the public safety facilities improvements and the plans made to date. 

The meeting will be held at the Melrose High School Learning Commons, 360 Lynn Fells Parkway, and will be aired on MMTV local access cable television. 

While initial planning by the city indicated the Ripley School site on Lebanon Street as the likely location of a new MPD headquarters, additional evaluation and consideration led city officials to shift focus to the Beebe School site. This decision was driven primarily by three factors: 

1. The Beebe School site is located at the geographic heart of Melrose and only two blocks from the current MPD headquarters. This location will help to ensure adequate emergency response times, enable residents to access the station by public transit or as a pedestrian, and remain a central community hub and resource.
2. Engineering evaluations indicated that construction at the Ripley School site would require the extensive and costly use of rock blasting to remove ledge, at an estimated minimum cost of $1.5 million. Project architects believe, based on their current understanding of the site, that little or no blasting will be necessary to build on the site of the Beebe School, reducing overall project costs and mitigating the potential impact on neighbors.
3. The Beebe School, currently in use as a temporary location for the Melrose Public Library, will be vacant by early 2025 and can be used as a site for MPD headquarters without disruption or interruption for any user groups, including the current tenants of the Ripley School, the SEEM Collaborative (a special education collaborative school serving Melrose and area students with a lease through late 2026). 

“Melrose voters placed their trust in this project, the largest public works undertaking in the City’s history, and in return, we must do everything possible to deliver this series of projects on time and on budget,” said the Mayor Grigoraitis. “Utilizing the Beebe School site for our new police headquarters will help us save $1.5 million or more by avoiding the extensive blasting that would be necessary to build on the Ripley School site. Critically, this decision also keeps the project on time by ensuring that the project can continue apace without awaiting the conclusion of the SEEM Collaborative’s lease on the Ripley School in 2026.” 

“Keeping the Melrose Police on West Foster Street ensures that police headquarters remains accessible to community members like Milano Center users and senior housing residents,” said Councilor Robb Stewart, who represents the neighborhood as the Ward 3 City Council member. “Using the old Beebe School site for the new police headquarters also resolves the uncertain future of this property, which was set to become vacant in the new year, ultimately ensuring that the City can continue to be a good neighbor to area residents.” 

“As Melrose chief of police, I’m pleased that our department’s headquarters can remain in the heart of the community, in easy reach of residents, downtown business owners, and other important constituencies,” said Melrose Police Chief Kevin Faller. “MPD is committed to being a good neighbor to the abutters of the Beebe School, and we look forward to relocating to a modern police headquarters that will meet our community’s needs and expectations now and for many years to come.” 

About the Public Safety Facilities Advisory Committee 

The PSFAC was formed in 2024 to advise the mayor’s administration on the Public Safety Facilities renovation and replacement projects approved by Melrose voters in a November 2023 debt exclusion vote. 

The Public Safety Facilities Advisory Committee is composed of the following members: 

• Denise Gaffey, Chair: City Planner and Director of the Office of Planning and Community Development (City of Melrose)
• Allan Alpert: Director of Emergency Management (City of Melrose)
• Emmanuel Andrade: Project Manager and Member of the Public Safety Building Design
Committee (Melrose resident)
• Chuck Borstel: Vice President, Commodore Builders (Melrose resident)
• Sue Cann: Member of the Cemetery Commission and former School Committee Member (Melrose resident)
• Jason Chen: Manufacturing Capacity Network Manager, Corning and Member of the
Public Safety Building Design Committee (Melrose resident) 

• Eric Christopher: Firefighter and Vice-President of Melrose Firefighters, Local 1617
(City of Melrose)
• Thomas Dalton: Communications and Events Manager (City of Melrose)
• Kevin Faller: Police Chief (City of Melrose)
• Martha Grover: Manager of Building Decarbonization, MA Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs and former Sustainability Manager, City of Melrose (Melrose resident)
• Councilor Ward Hamilton: City Councilor-At-Large
• John McCarron: Firefighter and President of Melrose Firefighters, Local 1617 (City of
Melrose)
• Paul Norton: Police Lieutenant (City of Melrose)
• Jim O’Loughlin: Retired Engineer (Melrose resident)
• Elena Proakis Ellis: Director of Public Works (City of Melrose)
• Daniel Riordan: Mental Health Detective (City of Melrose)
• John White: Fire Chief (City of Melrose)
Project funding and history
On November 7, 2023, a 59% majority of Melrose voters approved a debt exclusion in the amount of $130 million to fund the renovation and replacement of Melrose’s four aging and obsolete public safety buildings.
On June 3, 2024, the Melrose City Council approved the first bond appropriation for these projects, allowing the city to borrow an initial $5.5 million to pay costs for the design and engineering of a new Melrose Highlands Fire Station and new Melrose Police Station.
A debt exclusion is a temporary increase in the tax levy that allows a City to borrow for a specific purpose. Unlike an override, which is a permanent increase in the tax levy, the additional amount for the payment of debt service is added to the levy limit for the life of the debt only. A debt exclusion ballot question can only be placed on an election ballot by a two-thirds vote of the City Council and requires the mayor’s approval.