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Chief’s office will communicate these concerns to Cornwall council ahead of when it decides where project will go.
Published Mar 06, 2026 • 3 minute read
Chief of Cornwall Police Service Shawna Spowart speaking during the Cornwall Police Service Board meeting on Thursday, March 5, 2026, in Cornwall, Ont. Photo by Shawna O’Neill /Cornwall Standard-FreeholderArticle content
Cornwall’s Chief of Police Shawna Spowart shared concerns on Thursday about the capacity of the proposed location for bridge housing at 330 Montreal Rd.
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During the Cornwall Police Service (CPS) board meeting, Spowart said if Cornwall council selects 330 Montreal Rd. to be where 30 sleeper cabins are established, it would impact the organization and its delivery of service. Currently, CPS operates out of that building and leases floors for its headquarters in the Justice Building at 340 Pitt St.
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“If the city does decide to put this here, perhaps we need to be saying to the city, you know, we paid for the collision reporting centre to be moved there. We don’t have space at 340 Pitt St. to move it back,” said Spowart. “We would be looking for the city to fund whatever changes we need to make in terms of delivery of service.”
Spowart said she did not address these concerns during any of the three public consultation meetings pertaining to the project because those events were focused on hearing feedback from community members.
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The Cornwall Police Service east-end station at 330 Montreal Rd. in Cornwall, on Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026. The City of Cornwall is considering this location for a proposed bridge housing project to help alleviate homelessness. Photo by Marc Benoit /Cornwall Standard-Freeholder
The design of the bridge housing project should it be established at 330 Montreal Rd. would see sleeper cabins, a community centre building, a washroom/service building, outdoor seating, and garbage receptacles cordoned off in the north end of the property’s parking lot.
“I believe it will have an affect our collision reporting centre, which as you know, we just recently moved down to the east-end station. By all accounts, it has been a great success down there,” said Spowart, explaining how the property is ideal for collision inspections and accommodating tow trucks.
“It was never really ideal in the front of 340 Pitt St. because there’s a lot of traffic and interference, creating some safety concerns for the employees who do that work.”
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Spowart said the organization doesn’t know if what would be left in the southern part of the parking lot at the east-end station would be able to accommodate the space needed for the collision reporting centre work if the project were to occupy the north section. The parking lot also currently offers employee parking, an exchange zone for parents who are sharing custody of a child, an exchange zone for people who are selling goods, and an Agapè Centre fridge where clients can pick up food.
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Additionally, the CPS community safety officers now occupy the office space at 340 Pitt St. where the collision reporting centre staff used to work out of.
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“The plan from the chief’s office will be to communicate these concerns through to council. We have already vocalized our concerns within the (staff) committee working on this,” she said.
Community members gathered at the Centre Charles-Émile-Claude to ask questions and address concerns regarding the City of Cornwall’s proposed bridge housing project, on Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026, in Cornwall, Ont. Photo by Marc Benoit /Cornwall Standard-Freeholder
Spowart said she also requested employee feedback on the topic, asking staff if they felt the bridge housing being located on the property would impact their ability to deliver service. She said there has been an extensive number of responses and some of those will be communicated to council.
The CPS has been operating out of space it has outgrown and that has surpassed its useful life for years. RPL Architects identified several deficiencies within the buildings in 2023 when the board unanimously supported moving into a second stage towards construction of a new police headquarters, estimated to cost $55 million at the time.
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Board chairperson Amanda Brisson asked if the bridge housing project was temporary or if the sleeper cabins would stay on the site that’s selected forever. Brisson and Spowart spoke about how a new police station could accommodate a collision reporting centre when its built but how that would take years, not months.
Spowart added that none of the three proposed sites have raised any concerns from a community safety perspective. During the public meeting on Monday that saw residents ask questions about the possibility of the bridge housing project being located on Saunders Drive in the west end of the city, Spowart said a heat-map tracking incidents of violent crime, human trafficking, and drug activity would be presented to council at an upcoming meeting.
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