Indoor parking, a gym with locker rooms, extra office space and
6,100 square-feet of room for future expansion are some of the
features of the new Morgan Hill Police Department facility which
City Council members took one step forward Wednesday night. Council
members voted unanimously to approve the recommendations by city
staff regarding the lease and purchase of the 43,300 square-foot
building, located in an industrial area at 16200 Vineyard
Boulevard.
Indoor parking, a gym with locker rooms, extra office space and 6,100 square-feet of room for future expansion are some of the features of the new Morgan Hill Police Department facility which City Council members took one step forward Wednesday night.
Council members voted unanimously to approve the recommendations by city staff regarding the lease and purchase of the 43,300 square-foot building, located in an industrial area at 16200 Vineyard Boulevard.
The recommendations were to move ahead with lease, purchase and construction management services agreements and with arranging financing for the project.
Police Chief Jerry Galvin said the building should be ready, if all goes according to schedule, for the department to move into, by spring or summer 2004.
The city will pay $1 per month, plus utilities, during the escrow period to lease the building. This allows the tenant improvements to be completed without bearing the cost of owning the building, according to the staff report.
The total project budget is $9.45 million; the financing will come from several sources: $1.7 million from the sale of city property (library); $1.2 million from impact fees and $7.3 million from certificate of participation proceeds (COPs).
An issue which some see as an advantage of the new building and others as a problem is the 6,100 square feet of empty space in the Vineyard building.
“While I want to encourage you to move forward (with the purchase of the building), I want to talk to you about what has become something of a thorn in our side, the empty space, the ‘nothingness,’” said Sgt. Mark Brazeal. “What to do with that space is a challenge … with all the pristine commercial real estate on the market now, it doesn’t make sense that someone would want to locate in a police department, unless it’s a bail bondsman or a donut shop.”
Councilwoman Hedy Chang said she was concerned, despite the jokes about donut shops, that it would be difficult to find a tenant for the space.
City Manager Ed Tewes said city staff had looked into the possibility of a public agency leasing the space.
“As we found out, public agencies are not seeking new space at this time,” he said.
Chang said the city should look in-house to fill the space.
“Maybe the RDA (Re-Development Agency) would be more compatible than some other use,” she said. “You don’t really see police departments leasing space to others.”
Brazeal pointed out that with the approximately 11,000 square-feet for indoor parking and the 6,100 square-feet for future expansion, the department will only have approximately 25,000 square-feet in which to operate.
“That space could be included into the new police facility,” he said. “Otherwise, we will have 25,000 square-feet for usable space … What justification do we have to keep that space open?”
Councilman Greg Sellers said the cost to turn that space into usable space could pay the salary for one police officer for one year.
The city has been considering moving the department out of its current location at the corner of Monterey Road and East Dunne Avenue for some time.
Police response is affected by heavy pedestrian traffic when Britton Middle School lets out and during commute times.
The department is bursting at the seams of its current building and has done so since it moved into the former Bank of America building in 1988.
Besides being small, according to a report prepared by Galvin, the existing 10,363 square-foot building is also “functionally inefficient.” There is no elevator and several offices and weight and locker rooms are on the second floor – away from patrol officers who use them. There is no space for new personnel.
Security is inadequate and the public and employees share the same small parking lot. There is no room for additional records storage. There is no space for large meetings or staff training and no place to expand the female locker room. The evidence and property storage room is inadequate as well.
The communication center where dispatchers spend 10-hour shifts with few breaks is small and dark with inadequate ventilation. Prisoners are released off the public lobby where witnesses or victims or the general public may be located.
The city has accedpted statements of interest in the current police building from three groups: Geno and Cindy Acevedo of El Toro Brewery; a Rick Page consortium that includes Page and at least two partners in the brewpub business; and Pat Forst and Louie Pappas of The Bold Knight Restaurant. City staff is currently working on developing a critieria for a request for proposals (RFP), which is the next step in the process.
