Saratoga Springs approves new police station

Saratoga Springs approves new police station
Lance Madigan - North County staff
Saratoga Springs police officers will have a new office soon, after the City Council approved a plan to purchase the bottom half of the City Hall building and convert the majority of it into a police station.

The major concern raised by the City Council was how to pay for the purchase, which will be more than $1 million. Last year, Saratoga Springs struggled to bring the city budget into balance with the economic downturn. Although much better off this year, thanks to cutbacks and planning, city officials don't want to saddle the city with new debt.
The police department is now housed in a double-wide trailer at 2015 S. Redwood Road.

"Trailers have no cupboards or closets," said Police Chief Gary Hicken. "You don't have any protection or barriers. You don't have the kind of walls or doors to provide for secure evidence rooms. No place to hold something. The lobby as you walk in you immediately walk into people's offices. We have had that [problem] where people walk in on detectives. They can come in on you angry and mad, and they are on top of you before you even know they are there. Those things are big deals."

Saratoga Springs city manager Ken Leetham said with the approval, the next step would be to make an offer to the owner.

"We have discussed the value of the building, and now the city will make a purchase offer," he said.

As negotiations would soon begin, Leetham said he could not discuss the potential value of the building or what the cost might be to the city. Leetham said he hoped to come back to the City Council with a final proposal in the next 30 to 45 days.

"We all understand the need for the building, it was just how are we going to pay for it," said Councilman Jefferson Moss. "It is very important that the public know that the biggest concern that the council had was any potential liability to the general fund.

"We are looking at scenarios where we are drawing fully from impact fees, a million dollars of which has already been set aside from our public safety impact fees which can only be used for this type of project."

He said almost $1 million is already available and any additional amount the city draws down from other impact fee funds would need to be repaid when other impact fees come into the city coffers.

"By law, these impact fees can only be spent for the purpose of development of public safety," said Councilman Bud Poduska. "We currently have about two-thirds of the entire cost of the purchase in our Public Safety Impact Fee Fund."

He said the third that needs to be borrowed would be paid back with interest into the other city funds.

"The impact fee funds are currently large enough, and the amount borrowed is small enough, so the temporary use will not interfere with any projects that will be paid for by these funds. In this way no property taxes, utility revenues, or sales tax revenues will be involved or needed in order to provide the police department with a safer and more efficient facility," Poduska said.

The new facility would be about 4,000 square feet. The double-wide trailer, according to Hicken, is just less than 1,200 square feet. Hicken also wanted to assure everyone that they would be good neighbors.

"I don't think it will cause as much difficulty for lessees downstairs as some might think," he said. "We will be doing all of our entering and exiting through the north doors. You are not going to be seeing police officers coming in these front doors."

The space the city will be negotiating is currently housing medical offices, the Alpine Pediatrics group. The clinic is building a new facility, which opened up a significant portion of the building. That prompted Mayor Timothy Parker to make the initial proposal.

Leetham said that once an agreement is reached, the city would then have to wait for Alpine Pediatrics to complete its building and move. Then renovations could begin.

"We just have to make some minor changes to the interior," he said. "I would think the actual construction would take a week to two weeks. It may take us about 30 days to finalize construction plans and get a contractor to help us."