At the November 7, 2017 meeting, the Director of Public Works presented four (4) options for expansion of the Police Building, including associated pros, cons, and costs for each option. All options include various interior renovations in the existing building to meet current Building Code and Americans with Disabilities Act requirements. Option #3, being the upstairs and downstairs additions in the southwest planter at a cost of $2 million, was recommended at that time. The City Council directed staff to evaluate a hybrid of Option #1, providing critical space needs of the Police Department in the southeast patio, with the upstairs half of Option #3 for a new EOC in the southwest planter.
The project designer, Kasavan Architects, and City staff evaluated this hybrid, now called Option #5. Specifically, Option #5 would provide evidence processing, property, and utility rooms into the patio at the southeast corner of the building. Option #5 would also provide a new EOC and a net increase of three (3) offices, at existing grade level, in the planter at the southwest corner of the building. The conceptual floor plan of Option #5 is attached.
Option #5 would expand the building a total of 2,501 square feet, which is half way between the smallest expansion of 966 square feet for Option #1 and the largest expansion of 3,998 square feet for Option #4. As previously noted, these schematic designs provide an initial idea to match space needs within the footprint of the existing building. For any option selected, considerably more thought will go into the layout of the floor plan to maximize space and overall functionality and appearance of the building.
In the process of evaluating Option #5, the project team found that we could relocate the existing interior entry door of the Conference Room from across the hall from Dispatch to be an entry door accessible only from the lobby. This door relocation would upgrade the Conference Room into a Multi-Purpose/Community Room, available to the public and enhancing community policing initiatives. Similarly, the new EOC room could typically serve as a Training Room but could be very quickly converted into an EOC. With these interior and exterior modifications, nearly all of the previously-proposed uses in Options #1 through #4 could be accommodated with Option #5.
Like the previously-reviewed Options #1 through #4, Option #5 presents pros and cons as follows. Key advantages include having sufficient space for a long term solution for the Police Department, the exclusion of a costly and potentially risky excavation for a basement in the planter, a new EOC/Training Facility, a Multi-Purpose/Community Room off of the lobby, and expansion space for Public Works into the old EOC area. At an estimated cost of $1.75 million, Option #5 would be about $250,000 less than previously-recommended Option #3. Disadvantages to Option #5 would be that the estimated cost is higher than Options #1 or #2, the entire west side and plaza south of the building would become a construction zone, and a temporary public lobby would be required.
Based on the above analysis, staff now recommends Option #5 as the "best fit" schematic design solution which balances long term program space needs with construction costs.
Finally, while not directly linked to the selection of an option to proceed into design, there is a possibility of also converting the planter in the northwest corner of the building into another room for witness interviews or as a commander/sergeant office. This add-on could be included in the bid documents as an additive alternate, and included into the project at the time of construction contract award only if sufficient funding is available.