Memorandum

City of Lawrence

Police Department

TO:	Tom Markus, City Manager
	Gregory C. Burns Jr., Chief of Police
FROM:	Anthony Brixius, Police Captain
	Chris Mulvenon, Assistant to the Chief
DATE:	November 2, 2017
RE:	Police Facility Site Selection
CC:	Dianne Stoddard, Assistant City Manager
	Casey Toomay, Assistant City Manager
	Brandon McGuire, Assistant to the City Manager
	Scott McCullough, Planning and Development Director
	Bryan Kidney, Finance Director
	Derek Rodgers, Director Parks and Recreation

Background

The Lawrence, Kansas Police Department and City of Lawrence staff is in the process of examining the steps necessary to move forward in the process of designing and building a police facility after the commission’s approval of the 2018 Budget.  This memorandum reviews a major portion of the building process from our 2017 Police Facility Master Plan, the building site selection.

Site selection for a police facility has been an ongoing examination since 2011, when the facility needs assessment began. Over the last six (6) years, department staff and city staff have reviewed dozens of properties to include city owned and privately-owned sites.  In 2014, prior to vote on a sales tax referendum, five (5) sites were presented as the most desirable sites meeting the needs set forth by the facility needs study.  Ultimately, a privately held site was selected and the referendum was unsuccessful.

On April 11, 2017, the department presented a phased approach to the police facility discussion at a commission meeting.  During the discussion, the commission provided strong indication they wished to focus only on potential sites the city currently owns.  Based on direction of the City Manager and direction from the City Commission, this memorandum focuses only on sites owned by the city that meet the recommended needs put forth by Police Facility Needs Assessment Study (2012).

Study Site/Building Recommendations Revisited

The architectural team that conducted the 2011 needs study has extensive experience in facility assessment processes as well as in the construction of hundreds of police/law enforcement facilities.  In examining the myriad of facility considerations that were presented for police-specific buildings, two overarching recommendations emerged:  having adequate space (land and structure), and a building design incorporating functional adjacency concepts.  Space needs should be sufficient for not only the current needs, but to accommodate at least 20 years of projected growth.  Key recommendations in regard to a site selection and building design are:

• Recommended site requirement of at least 13.1 acres.
• Estimated total project space (building) need of 103,239 square feet on the day of occupation.  The original plan called for 73,678 square feet in actual building space and 29,561 square feet in garage, range, and other for the total of 103,239 square feet.  After cost cutting measures were looked at, revised square footage numbers were 62,426 square feet in actual building space instead of the previous 73,678 square feet. These numbers may need to be adjusted as part of a re-evaluation in 2017 and as part of the master planning process as they are already five years old.
• Construction of a basement area beneath the entire first floor footprint of the building.
• Adjacency factors in design to address safety, security, confidentiality, productivity, infrastructure considerations, and service related concerns.

Additional Considerations

The Police Facility Needs Assessment Study itself did not examine site criteria beyond establishing minimum recommended site size and facility square footage.  Over the course of the process from 2011 until present, city management, police staff and the architectural team have thoroughly examined all buildable properties.  More specifically, in October 2013, 17 sites were considered at that time utilizing criteria established by the architectural team.  They include:

• Historic environs. Is the site within the environs of a historic property?
• Flood Plain. Is the site within or adjacent to designated flood plain?
• Ownership.  Is ownership private, public, city, or a combination?
• Adequate Green Space – Acreage.  Does the site meet the minimum architectural recommendations?
• Central Location (current).  How close to the geographic center of Lawrence is the site under consideration?
• Central Location (future).  How does the site geographically fit into the predicted growth of Lawrence?
• Compatible with Neighboring Land Uses.  What are the current zoning classifications for adjacent property?
• Expansion Potential.  Is the site larger than the recommended site?
• Future or Back-up E.O.C. (Dispatch, Emergency Management) Location Suitability.  Is the site large enough to accommodate additional expansion?
• On/Near Main Arteries.  Is the site accessible from multiple access points and is the traffic flow adequate?
• Public Accessibility.    Does the public have access to the site from current public transportation, bike paths, and/or pedestrian paths?
• Visibility.  How public (adjacency to and visibility from existing arterial, collector, and local streets) of a presence will the site allow the facility to be? 
• Site Constructability.  What are the contours, grade, and public utilities available at the site?
• Site Acquisition.  What are the acquisition costs of the site? 

Using the established criteria listed above, a ranking of public and private sites was developed.  Of the 17 sites evaluated, Overland Drive & Wakarusa was the only city owned site with the minimum suggested acreage and was the second ranked overall site regardless of private or public property.  Venture Park was originally precluded from the ranking based upon several factors including the need for industrial zoned acreage, but was later added as an option for other city owned space meeting the minimum acreage requirements.

City Owned Sites Previously Considered

Although not a complete review of every site considered for the police facility, the following is an updated list (of those still believed to be available) of those sites that were considered finalists after narrowing based on selection criteria previously listed in 2014:

• Overland Drive and Wakarusa Drive – north/west location.
• Venture Park – east location

It should be noted multiple city owned sites were examined during the initial assessment.  In total, the city owns 71 sites over 13.1 acres.  Of the city owned sites, all but one (Overland and Wakarusa Drive) fell into one of four categories listed below and many fell into multiple categories, but are only listed in one category. 

Already in existing use	33
Portions or all of site in a flood plain	26
Targeted for economic development (Venture Park)	7
City owned located in the county	4

Site Descriptions of Finalists

• Overland Drive and Wakarusa Drive. The city-owned site addressed at 5100 Overland Drive is located north of the Walmart Store on West 6th Street.    At 29 acres, it meets the recommend size criteria.  Site advantages include that it is already city-owned, it is close to a major east-west arterial street (West 6th Street), it has several north/south arterial street options from which access can be gained for traveling to and from the location, and it has reasonable proximity to K-10 and I-70.  One additional advantage when placed in the context of a phased approach is the property’s close proximity to the current Investigations and Training Center (ITC), which would continue to be occupied by the police department for a yet undetermined amount of time.  One disadvantage is the location may not provide as much immediate street visibility as some other locations would.  Although not centrally located, it is the opinion of the Planning and Development Services Department that the more immediate and future growth in the city will occur west of this location, so it would become more centralized as time goes on.  The potential development costs were estimated at $275,000 - $300,000 in 2014.

• Venture Park.  This is a city-owned 200-acre industrial park.  Block ‘A’ was previously considered as a potential site for a police facility.   Block ‘A’ is no longer available based on a recent agreement with VanTrust.  Block ‘B’ has two industrial zoned lots available along the north side of East 23^rd Street.  Lot 3 is 18.9 acres and Lot 4 is 15.0 acres.  Site advantages include that it is already city-owned, it is in close proximity to the County Jail, and city fleet maintenance facilities (for the time being).  Disadvantages include removing the acreage from potential industrial/economic development opportunity, lack of a central location, and less access to east-west and north-south arterial streets as other sites.  One additional disadvantage when placed in the context of a phased approach is that the property is very far away from the current Investigations and Training Center (ITC), which would continue to be occupied by the police department for some time.  Both lots are currently served with utilities and have road access.  Estimates for interior site development-extension of utilities and entrance into the site have not been developed. 

Site Recommendation: Overland Drive and Wakarusa

When considering where to recommend a new police facility be located, it is important to note that no one location is perfect.  All have advantages and disadvantages that should be weighed against one another. 

With the assistance of Mr. Scott McCullough, Director of Planning and Development Services, staff has reviewed all existing possible building sites within the City of Lawrence, both city-owned and privately owned.  Staff has also had conversations with Mr. Derek Rogers, Parks and Recreation Director and with Mr. Tony Barron, Executive Director of Facilities and Operations for the Lawrence School District, regarding currently city-owned property that is adjacent to USD 497 facilities.  Based upon those discussions and backed with previously conducted site evaluations, the city-owned site with the highest degree of favorable attributes is the property at Overland Drive and Wakarusa.   To staff’s knowledge, there do not exist any impediments to such a project on the property in terms of restrictions or other obligated uses.  In communications with Director Rogers, there may be some exciting community engagement opportunities for recreational facilities being near the police department.

Preliminary examination, as part of the 2012-2014 study, depicted the police facility being located on the southern 16 acres portion of the property.  This is larger than the recommended minimum, but it is believed some of this is due to the unique characteristics of some of the property’s eastern edge which would not be as conducive to construction, but may be available for trails or park use.  At 29 acres, the city-owned Overland and Wakarusa site is large enough to accommodate the police facility while also preserving 13 acres for park use.  Staff recommends that approximately 16 acres of the city-owned 29-acre property located at Overland and Wakarusa be designated as the location for the construction of a future police facility.