Tri-Cities approve warming center funds. Will it open next winter?

The Somersworth and Rochester city councils voted this week to approve funding for a new Strafford County warming center, following the Dover council’s approval last week.

It will be constructed near the Strafford County jail on County Farm Road in Dover, where the Pope Memorial Humane Society-Cocheco Valley was formerly located. The new center will replace the current Willand Warming Center in Somersworth, a building that is owned by Dover and purchased with a grant in 2020.

The estimated cost for the new center is $3.5 million, but Strafford County Commission Chair George Maglaras has recently said he expects it to be less. Somersworth’s council unanimously approved approximately $484,593 on Dec. 15, and Rochester’s approved its share for approximately $1.316 million in an 8-4 vote Dec. 16. Dover’s council approved nearly $1.7 million in an 8-1 vote Dec. 10.

The new center, like the current one, is planned to operate during the winter season on days when there is extreme cold or severe storms.

Will the new shelter be ready for next winter?

Maglaras said the new, two-story warming center will be approximately 9,800 square feet with 94 beds. He called it an “austere” building, designed to “keep people alive.”

Maglaras said he thinks the construction of the new warming center will happen over the summer, and the plan is to have the facility open for the 2026-27 winter season. Maglaras said construction bids are currently being reviewed.

Collaboration on warming center praised

Todd Marsh, Rochester’s welfare director, commented on the warming center project at the Dec. 15 Somersworth City Council meeting, saying he was speaking as a resident of Somersworth.

“Collaboration and common ground in government are increasingly becoming an exception. I can say, as both a participant and an observer in the planning of the warming center for Strafford County construction that the Tri-Cities are an exception. Three municipalities that share borders, but are shaped by different community DNA — including different needs, priorities, and operational demands,” Marsh said in a written version of his comments.

“Despite what separates us, we can agree on the value of life and the opportunity for a next day: the next day of affordable housing availability. The next day of a substance use disorder recovery decision. The next day of employment attainment. And yes — if none of those — the next day of survival, to start again. I think it is safe to say that not all ‘in the room’ at the warming center planning meetings agreed on every cause and every solution. However, it did not prevent a common-ground consensus: the need for a no-frills, yet functional, durable, and adaptable warming center for our fellow human beings in need, regardless of fault or circumstances.”

This article originally appeared on Fosters Daily Democrat. Reporting by Sarah Donovan, Foster’s Daily Democrat / Fosters Daily Democrat