Bainbridge hopes to make decision on location of new police station by early 2015

Published 11:44 am Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Bainbridge city officials hope to make a decision on where to build a new police station by early next year, perhaps as soon as January.

Though the city has trimmed the list of possible locations to four, questions still remain on a few of the potential sites.

The biggest question marks are hovering over the options of putting the police station on city-owned land that now sports a gravel parking lot south of Town Square, or on property at the Highway 305-High School Road intersection that’s being developed for a shopping center.

City Manager Doug Schulze said Tuesday the city is still waiting for details from Visconsi, the Ohio-based developer building the new commercial center, on locating the new police station within the new development.

Despite repeated phone conversations and a recent face-to-face meeting with three Visconsi representatives, essential financial information is still lacking.

The city has only received a revised site plan of the shopping center that shows where the new police building could be located, but nothing else.

“That’s all we’ve received from them,” Schulze told the council at its meeting this week, “although we had several phone conversations and an in-person meeting here at city hall to review a couple of options that they are supposed to be providing financial information to us.”

Schulze said the city still expects to receive a written proposal from the company, but he also noted the company was still involved in other negotiations.

Those talks, he said, “could result in some fairly significant changes there that may make it possible for them to lease to us.”

“I do think we’re competing with retail rental rates, which is going to make it extremely expensive,” Schulze added. “But we’ll wait and see what they offer.”

The city manager said staff has been planning to have the police station site nailed down by early 2015, with the selection of an architect and final design plans to follow.

Talk of funding options to pay for the new police station are expected to happen next fall.

“Assuming everything would fall into place at that point, we’d be looking at construction during the 2016 construction year,” Schulze said.

Council members also got a look at the potential property costs this week for the four sites.

The sites still under consideration for the new police station are:

• On land north of city hall, on parcels at 290 N. Madison Ave. and 328 N. Madison Ave.;

• On the city-owned gravel lot located southeast of City Hall Town Square;

• On the Coultas property on New Brooklyn Road near Highway 305; and

• On the Visconsi shopping center property at the corner of High School Road and Highway 305.

According to a Nov. 12 memo from Deputy City Manager Morgan Smith to the city council, putting the new police station north of city hall may be the priciest of the options under consideration.

That land, approximately .75 acres on two parcels on North Madison Avenue, has an estimated value of $2.5 million to $3 million.

City officials said the Coultas property, at New Brooklyn Road and Highway 305, has an estimated value of $1.4 million. City officials note that an adjacent 2.1 acre-parcel sold for $1.2 million in November 2013.

The big unknown is the estimated cost of locating the police station on land at the Visconsi shopping center site on the northeast corner of High School Road and Highway 305.

Schulze said that the property costs were estimates, as appraisals had not been done on the properties.

Council members asked Schulze if he could get the missing information from Visconsi in time for the council to pick a site in January.

Councilwoman Sarah Blossom said she hoped the council’s decision wouldn’t drag on and on because of a delay by Visconsi

“We’re just waiting, waiting on Visconsi. I find it frustrating,” she said.

Council members noted that a few other key pieces of information were also essential before a site decision was made.

Blossom said she wanted to know if putting the new station on the city-owned gravel parking lot would also require the city to obtain an adjacent piece of privately-owned land.

That location would also include a parking garage, she said, which is also something council members need to consider when they choose a site.

A decision also needs to be made on whether the new police station should include room for a municipal court, but Schulze noted all of the locations under consideration could be developed for a facility that would be home to both police and the court.

The city has been talking for many months about replacing its outdated and cramped police headquarters that’s now located in an old fire hall on Winslow Way.

City officials earlier examined the possibilities of building a joint police-fire station project with the Bainbridge Island Fire Department on land already owned by the fire department on Madison Avenue, but that option was rejected by the city council in early October.

The total cost of the new police station is still undetermined.

An estimate by the city’s consultant on the project, Portland-based Mckenzie, Inc. pegged the cost of a new stand-alone police department building at $7.6 million. That estimate does not include the cost of land.

At Tuesday’s meeting, resident Doug Rauh said the city should consider keeping the police station where it is, on Winslow Way at the gateway to the Bainbridge ferry landing.

“You don’t realize what a treasure you have by having the police station where it is,” Rauh said.

Across the region, the Bainbridge Island Ferry Terminal is considered one of the safest, he said, and that’s because the police station is nearby.

Also, with the grade of the property, the city could build a three-level station with room for a holding cell in the basement and parking, as well.

“Take a second look; you have a fantastic site,” Rauh said. “Why can’t that site work?”

If the region is hit by a destructive earthquake, the Agate Pass Bridge will be lost and the ferry will be the island’s link to the world, he said.

“The major connection will be that ferry terminal,” he said, and the emergency headquarters should be nearby.

“That’s where you’re going to have your ambulances, that’s where you going to bring in your emergency food — you only got two days of supply of food on this island once you get closed off. It will happen sometime,” Rauh said.