Council to consider plan for new police building

Proposed for corner of Clement Ave & Richter St
City Council will discuss a proposal Monday to build a new police services building in Kelowna. The existing 52-year-old building no longer provides sufficient space for effective policing in our community. A new Kelowna Police Services Building is proposed for the corner of Clement Avenue and Richter Street. “Maintaining a safe community is a priority for citizens,” says John Vos, Infrastructure Division Director for the City of Kelowna. “The City’s 2012 Citizens Survey ranked concerns about personal safety relatively low, while protective services were citizens’ top priority for community investment. That tells us people generally feel safe in Kelowna and they want to continue investing in protective services to give the RCMP the support system and efficiencies they need to keep our neighbourhoods, business areas and downtown safe.” This project, if approved, will be more than just a new building. It will include the design and construction of a new Police Services Building, necessary roadway and intersection improvements on Clement Avenue and Richter Street, parking lot provision, landscaping and required off-site utility servicing. The cost ceiling for the successful contractor is $36 million. That cost includes design and engineering, building construction, parking, landscaping, utility upgrades, street upgrades, sidewalk and irrigation. There are additional direct costs to the City (outside of the contract work) that equal $12 million, for a total project cost of $48 million. Those direct costs include planning, project management, development cost charges, building permit, furniture and computer networks, financing costs, design-build stipend for unsuccessful bidders and a contingency reserve. The funding strategy Council will consider Monday proposes the City secure a municipal loan for up to $42,384,000 from the Municipal Finance Authority of BC, amortized over 30 years, with another $5.6 million to come from reserve funds and other outside funding sources. Under the Municipal Policing Agreement, the City is required to provide adequate accommodations for the RCMP to perform their work within a set of nationally applied policing standards. Our current infrastructure does not meet those standards and poses a potential risk to effective policing in our community. Under these circumstances, the RCMP has the right to construct their own facility and bill it back to Kelowna residents. The City agrees that the facilities do not meet current and future requirements and is working toward a solution. “It is important to remember that this facility is more complex than office space – it is part prison, part high-tech lab, part library and part armory or high-security storage facility. It is operational 24/7 and required to be built to a post-disaster standard, which means after the occurrence of a seismic event, the building needs to not only remain standing, but needs to remain fully operational.” If approved by council, next steps will see the elector approval process for the borrowing of funds to complete the project, which is expected to be brought before council early in 2014. If approved, construction of the new building will begin in 2015, wrapping up in late 2017.