Memorandum 13-124 Capital Improvement Plan Projects of Public Safety Building and East to West Transportation Corridor

Memorandum 13-124
TO:  Mayor Wythe and Homer City Council
THROUGH: Walt Wrede, City Manager
FROM: Katie Koester, Community and Economic Development Coordinator
DATE:  August 21, 2013
SUBJECT: CIP Projects: Public Safety Building and East to West Transportation Corridor

The purpose of this memo is to provide background and request clarification from Council on the CIP projects Public Safety Building and East to West Transportation Corridor.
Public Safety Building
The current Homer Police Station was built in 1979 and the Fire Hall in 1980.The need for replacement facilities for the aging Police and Fire Stations are not new; when looking at old CIPs I found some portion of the proposed project on the CIP as far back as I tracked, 2000, though from 2007-2011 it was listed in the long-range section of the book. 
In 2006 Special Project Coordinator Anne Marie Holen prepared a memo for Council analyzing the space needs for a joint public safety building. For whatever reason, the project did not make it on the CIP as a joint building (Homer Fire Station and Homer Police Department are separate projects on the 2006 CIP). I have included the space needs questionnaire from 2006 updated by the Chiefs for your information. I attempted to summarize the square footage needs to come up with the very rough total square foot number of 29,920 (see the attached spreadsheet). Please keep in mind these numbers are very approximate. The cost estimate is even more approximate, I averaged the per square foot price for a police station and fire station recently designed in Alaska ($512) and multiplied that by the square foot  numbers for the Chiefs. An architect needs to look at the project to come up with more accurate numbers. 
Things to keep in mind:
KPB assessed value of the Homer Volunteer Fire Department and Homer Police Station (on shared lot): $2,398,400
Homer Police Department annual heating fuel usage: $4,746
Savings if same facility was heated with natural gas: $2,990
Homer Fire Department annual heating fuel usage: $32,000
Savings if same facility was heated with natural gas: $20,160

Fire Department Depreciation Reserves:  Balance = $121,000 (with Council approval of funds originally allocated for equipment purchase transferring to reserves).
Police Department Depreciation Reserves: Balance = $158,121

Recommended next steps:

1) Determine what the Legislative ask is for FY15.  If the City is asking for design? ($1,531,904) Is the City willing to fund preliminary design (to 10%) at approximately $306,380 and ask for the remaining design funds, $1,225,523?
2) Direct the City Manager to establish a working group to determine the best location for a Public Safety building. Potential members could come from: HPD, HVFD, Planning Commission and Council.
3) Once a site is decided on, put out a RFP for a 10% conceptual design. This costs approximately 20-25% of a design budget.

East to West Transportation Corridor
At the Saturday August 17th work session the Council directed staff to put together a local roads package for Council consideration.  The proposed new project, East to West Transportation Corridor, incorporates extending Bartlett Street, putting in a road through Town Center and acquiring and improving Wadell Way. The three sections of roads together provide an alternate east-west route through town. This project is eligible for HART funds and the City could build a very attractive package to the Legislature by proposing a 50% match. After subtracting funds that are committed for road LID project, the HART fund balance is approximately $5,500,000.
Recommendation: Provide staff with direction on what the Council would be willing to pledge as a match for the project.

Enc:
Space Needs Spreadsheet
Chief Painter Public Safety Needs Questions
Chief Robl Public Safety Needs Questions
Sample Public Safety Building from Architect Websites
Public Safety Building CIP write-up
East to West Transportation Corridor CIP write-up