City once again ready to broach topic of a new police headquarters

In this Journal-World file photo, Lawrence Police department evidence officer Keith Jones works surrounded by mountain of containers that fill the main evidence storage room on the second floor of the Judicial and Law Enforcement Center, 111 E. 11th St.

Lawrence is once again broaching the topic of building a new $30 million police headquarters, but first the city’s staff and commission have a good deal of homework to do.

While a conversation surrounding a new police facility has been going in one way or another since the mid-1990s, most recently voters rejected a citywide sales tax in late 2014, which would have funded the project. At the time the work was estimated to cost $28 million.

Now, a year and a half after the failed election, City Manager Tom Markus said it’s time to address the project once more. But before any ground can be broken it’s important to review past work outlining different options for the department, he said.

Last week Markus submitted a draft of the city’s five-year capital improvement plan, or CIP, which lists the police headquarters as unfunded through 2021. The draft does, however, set aside $1.5 million in the 2017 budget for planning and designing a new building.

So far conceptual ideas have been prepared regarding the facility, but nothing concrete has been laid out, Markus said.

“The $1.5 million is more of a placeholder than anything, and before we get to the point where we actually hire somebody and start making those design decisions, we have to get everybody to go through all the materials,” he said.

Those materials were prepared as the city considered the headquarters in the past; however, many of the options outlined are still relevant, Markus said. They include looking at different land options around town or potentially using existing facilities and eventually working into a newer complex over time, he said.

Lawrence Police Chief Tarik Khatib said in an email that he is satisfied with the proposed CIP and the money allocated to the department, but added that the potential headquarters project must be approached with care.

When the Law Enforcement Center, 111 East 11th St., was originally built in the 1970s the facility was already too small, Khatib said. And the building was quickly outgrown.

In the 1990s the city moved half the police department to the Investigations and Training Center at 4820 Bob Billings Drive, as a less expensive way to mitigate space issues, Khatib said. The solution was only temporary.

“I think the most important thing to keep in mind is not to repeat the mistakes of the past,” he said.

Khatib also cautioned against repurposing existing buildings not originally designed for police use and said that as the conversation continues the department’s need for more space and modernized facilities persists.

After everybody involved is caught up on past studies, one of the first steps in the process is choosing a plot of land for the project, Markus said. Last week he stressed to the city commissioners a cost-saving measure of selecting a piece of land the city already owns.

“If we already own it, I don’t have to pay for it,” he said.

A June 2014 study by Treanor Architects suggested possible options at 2100 and 2200 VenturePark Drive, 2501 Exchange Place, 1353 North 1300 Road, 5100 Overland Drive and 100 McDonald Drive.

Of those options only the Venture Park and Overland Drive plots are owned by the city, the report states. Available prices for the other parcels of land show costs could reach more than $69,000 per acre. Estimates show the potential headquarters project would need over 13 acres in total.

Khatib said the size of the plot is an important factor to keep in mind.

The some-13 acres needed would help “to compensate for any mistakes made,” he said. “So, if we do build it too small, or have to make budget adjustments, we at least have the option to add on later without having to move to a different site, thereby repeating the whole process again.”

Once a plot of land is found for the project, the city can move forward with discussions about planning and designing the facility, Markus said.

Still working on the city’s budget, which will be finalized in August, Markus said he hopes to begin having more serious conversations about the police headquarters by later this summer.

City Commissioner Stuart Boley said he isn’t sure yet where he stands on the new police headquarters issue, but he’s ready to sit down and talk about the city’s questions and the police department’s needs.

“I have great confidence in Tom Markus and his team to help us find the answers to these questions,” he said. “And we will continue to work on this. I don’t know the answers yet, but I know we’ll get there.”

Other budget points

Markus’ CIP draft also included several other budget items for the police department over the coming years.

In all, for 2017 the document budgets $672,100 for mobile data computer systems, $392,000 for 14 new police vehicles — up from recent years which budgeted for 10 new vehicles — and $95,000 for a crime scene scanner.

For 2018 the CIP also budgets for a $300,000 firearms simulator and $619,000 of deferred maintenance to the Law Enforcement Center. The maintenance work includes roof repairs, carpet replacement, heating and air conditioning work and overhead lighting work.

Khatib said the money set aside for police projects in the future will better allow the department to serve the community.

An earlier draft of the CIP also set aside $278,518 to fund a police body camera project; however, that work is currently listed as unfunded in the most recent version of the document.

Markus said he supports police use of body cameras, but he wasn’t so sure the department needs or could afford the upgrades as early as 2017.

The important move is to place the cameras on the CIP, Markus said. Even if the upgrades are listed as unfunded.

“I did want it on the list so we know it’s there and it’s a recurring thing,” he said.

In the meantime the city can watch other police departments, learn from their experiences and let the technology continue to improve, Markus added.

Khatib said he believes body cameras are in the police department’s future; however, it’s not clear when they may be added to the force. As that conversation continues, the department will work on policies allowing it to implement the new technology, he said.