Kent voters could be asked late next year to approve a property tax measure to pay for more space for the police department by remodeling existing city buildings.
The City Council agreed last week to move forward with a study to find out remodeling costs and funding options. City staff expects to have those details by spring or summer.
The council chose to look at the remodeling option after voters in November 2014 turned down a bond measure to build a new police station at a cost of $34 million at the same location as the current facility, which was last remodeled in 1991 to handle 75 officers. The police department has just more than 140 officers and hopes to get to 165 officers by 2020.
“We believe the cost estimate will be significantly less than the $34 million stand-alone police building,” said Derek Matheson, city chief administrative officer, at the Nov. 17 council workshop. “We will also start to develop funding options. One of those options – though not the only option – could be another ballot measure.”
Matheson said a less-expensive remodeling option rather than a new police facility could give voters a reason to vote for a property tax increase. The 2014 bond received 54 percent of the vote but needed 60 percent approval. The property tax rate on that measure was 19 cents per $1,000 assessed value or about $57 per year for a $300,000 home.
“We believe we would have a good message for the public in saying we heard you that you want the police department to have more space but you want us to be more efficient with our dollars and our space and we have tried to do that here,” he said.
Seattle-based ARC Architects presented a City Hall Space Efficiency Study to the council at its workshop last week. The council in June approved a $40,193 contract with ARC for the study.
The city has about 125,000 square feet of office space spread among City Hall, the Centennial Center, the police station and the City Hall annex.
The study showed the potential to increase space for the police department to about 33,000 square feet from 22,000 square feet, in part by replacing a breezeway between City Hall and the police station with an office building and moving City Council Chambers to the first floor of the Centennial Building.
“We are not talking about, especially within City Hall and the police facility, just moving some walls and doorways and adding some new paint,” Matheson said. “We are talking about completely re-imagining the interiors and making it more like a Class A office experience like our employees experience at Centennial. That’s important for police officers who are very frustrated and hampered in their work by the layout.”
Rex Bond, an ARC principal architect, told the council the pathway between the police station and City Hall could be turned into more offices, possibly even adding a second story.
“We felt this was such an underutilized piece of land between the two that it was a way to give the police the square footage they desire and if they desire more, a second floor or going out (west) further,” Bond said.
The remodeling of the Centennial Center could turn the lobby into a customer service center for all city departments rather than the several public access points that exist now, Bond said. He added the permit center on the first floor of the Centennial has way more space than it needs. The first floor also could accommodate a large conference room, something the city campus lacks.
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