Benicia Eyes New Police Station
By Corey Lyons
Contra Costa Newspapers
April 14, 2003
BENICIA -- For years, police have groaned about the fast demise and hazardous conditions of their shabby station.
The city's officers have worked out of a cramped former high school building since the early 1960s.
A pair of scuff-marked, poorly designed holding cells do not meet state standards. Investigators work out of a portable room, which violated city building codes long ago. A single bathroom is shared by inmates and employees.
"It's like trying to put a round peg in a square hole: We're in here, but it doesn't work," said Police Chief Jim Trimble.
It's been a serious topic in Benicia for more than a decade, but a plan for a spiffy new police building is now coming into sharper focus.
The City Council is weighing putting a $14 million bond measure before voters Nov. 4. To pass, the measure must be approved by 66 percent of registered voters.
So far, only Councilman Dan Smith has questioned if police need to more than double their space in a city of 28,300 with the lowest crime rate in Solano County.
"This is our most important capital improvement project; I have no argument with that," Smith said. "It's a question of how much we need."
He said the city has too many other priorities to justify the cost and large size of the proposed building, but indicated that he would not campaign against a bond measure.
City leaders envision a three-story, pedestrian-friendly complex built near the existing facility at 200 East L St. It would measure more than 26,000 square feet and become part of a revamped City Hall "campus."
For now, the 12,500 square foot station is a sort of detached piece of the civic puzzle, an antiquated building tethered to a gymnasium by a concrete walkway.
The one-story building, once part of Benicia High School, dates to the 1940s. Police moved in for good in 1962.
In recent years, many fast-growing East Bay cities have built new police stations, including Livermore, Concord and Antioch. Benicia, the first city to incorporate in California, is essentially built-out and expects to add only 1,800 new residents by 2020.
In addition, police staffing ratios generally trace population growth -- meaning the department will grow from 50 to about 64 full-time employees by 2020.
So why all the extra space?
Trimble, a former deputy chief in Hayward who was hired in August 2002, said a new, seismically fit building could be good for the next 40 years.
Trimble, 56, said Tracy has already outgrown its new police station after seven years.
"They book people in the hallways; that's what we do," he said.
With the state in an economic headlock, it remains to be seen if residents want to spend $58 more a year in property taxes to help pay for the building and civic improvements.
City leaders will try to educate the public about the deplorable conditions of the existing building.
Trimble said inmates pose a constant threat to employees by sharing the same cramped space and the 911 center remains vulnerable to a serious earthquake or other disasters.
In a telephone survey in February, 44 percent of registered voters said they would vote yes for a bond measure to build a new station.
"That's pretty encouraging for the city to hear," especially in a recession and with little knowledge about the needs, said Gary Robbins, a principal with Urban Alternatives in Novato, which analyzed the survey data.
Fifty-two percent of the 588 registered voters polled said they were "totally unaware" of the problems facing the department.
Contra Costa Newspapers
April 14, 2003
BENICIA -- For years, police have groaned about the fast demise and hazardous conditions of their shabby station.
The city's officers have worked out of a cramped former high school building since the early 1960s.
A pair of scuff-marked, poorly designed holding cells do not meet state standards. Investigators work out of a portable room, which violated city building codes long ago. A single bathroom is shared by inmates and employees.
"It's like trying to put a round peg in a square hole: We're in here, but it doesn't work," said Police Chief Jim Trimble.
It's been a serious topic in Benicia for more than a decade, but a plan for a spiffy new police building is now coming into sharper focus.
The City Council is weighing putting a $14 million bond measure before voters Nov. 4. To pass, the measure must be approved by 66 percent of registered voters.
So far, only Councilman Dan Smith has questioned if police need to more than double their space in a city of 28,300 with the lowest crime rate in Solano County.
"This is our most important capital improvement project; I have no argument with that," Smith said. "It's a question of how much we need."
He said the city has too many other priorities to justify the cost and large size of the proposed building, but indicated that he would not campaign against a bond measure.
City leaders envision a three-story, pedestrian-friendly complex built near the existing facility at 200 East L St. It would measure more than 26,000 square feet and become part of a revamped City Hall "campus."
For now, the 12,500 square foot station is a sort of detached piece of the civic puzzle, an antiquated building tethered to a gymnasium by a concrete walkway.
The one-story building, once part of Benicia High School, dates to the 1940s. Police moved in for good in 1962.
In recent years, many fast-growing East Bay cities have built new police stations, including Livermore, Concord and Antioch. Benicia, the first city to incorporate in California, is essentially built-out and expects to add only 1,800 new residents by 2020.
In addition, police staffing ratios generally trace population growth -- meaning the department will grow from 50 to about 64 full-time employees by 2020.
So why all the extra space?
Trimble, a former deputy chief in Hayward who was hired in August 2002, said a new, seismically fit building could be good for the next 40 years.
Trimble, 56, said Tracy has already outgrown its new police station after seven years.
"They book people in the hallways; that's what we do," he said.
With the state in an economic headlock, it remains to be seen if residents want to spend $58 more a year in property taxes to help pay for the building and civic improvements.
City leaders will try to educate the public about the deplorable conditions of the existing building.
Trimble said inmates pose a constant threat to employees by sharing the same cramped space and the 911 center remains vulnerable to a serious earthquake or other disasters.
In a telephone survey in February, 44 percent of registered voters said they would vote yes for a bond measure to build a new station.
"That's pretty encouraging for the city to hear," especially in a recession and with little knowledge about the needs, said Gary Robbins, a principal with Urban Alternatives in Novato, which analyzed the survey data.
Fifty-two percent of the 588 registered voters polled said they were "totally unaware" of the problems facing the department.
posted by Corey at 4:06 PM
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