After failed referendum, another police station proposed

After voters roundly rejected $35.5 million in new bonds for a new police station/public safety building at the polls in November, city officials are back to the drawing board.

”The need didn’t go away, so we’ve got to do something,” Oviedo City Council member Keith Britton said in November.

The referendum, with 64% voting against, would have added additional bonds to the $11.4 million passed in 2016 to build a brand-new station near City Hall. The need for it was shown in a 2017 space-needs study commissioned by the city, which determined that a building at least twice the size of the current 20,000-square-foot police headquarters was necessary. The need is mainly due to population growth and the building’s current condition, including the need for new roofing, windows and updated ADA compliance features. The department moved into the current building in 1990.

_{Space-needs study done in 2017 for the city of Oviedo (Charts from ZHA, Inc.}

Oviedo Police Chief Dale Coleman said that the new building would have included a K-9 facility, de-escalation training areas, new classrooms, areas for community outreach and events, officer wellness resources, an up-to-date fitness center and a more efficient emergency operations center.

A 2018 study focused on cost savings, however, found that a new station with combined training areas and updated efficiencies could be sufficient at just under 29,000 square feet.

Coleman joined the City Council’s work session on April 29 to discuss options and next steps following a February meeting in which council approved a piggyback agreement with Osceola County and facility construction consulting firm ZHA, Inc. for alternatives and estimates.

A piggyback agreement is one that allows for the city to use an existing contract — in this case, Osceola’s — to receive the same services without having to receive additional bids or proposals, which can save money and time.

ZHA evaluated the city’s needs and came up with four options and their cost projections, which include the already-approved $11.4 million in bonds:

• Renovate the existing structure – $12.53 million
• Add a new annex – $9.26 million
• Renovate the existing structure and add a new annex – $21.67 million
• Build a new police building – $25.81 million

ZHA recommended two of the options for consideration: building the annex and renovate the existing building when funds become available, and to build a new building on the east side of the property, which would give the city the option of either keeping the current facility for eventual renovations, or selling or leasing the land to help offset costs.

But which option would the police department prefer?

”That’s a tough question to answer,” Coleman said. “I look at the costs — I’m more of a frugal guy than not — but the easiest [option] is the single building. [With] a new building, you can design what you need into it and make the efficiencies inside the building better.

”That being said, an annex and renovation is better than what we currently have, by far,” he said. “It would meet the needs. But you ask me what I’d like to have? It would be the single building of 29,000 square feet.”

What clearly stands out in terms of cost projections is the estimate for a new building, coming in much lower than previous estimates that led to the ask for the bonds.

Space-needs study done in 2018 for the city of Oviedo (Charts from ZHA, Inc.)

“The price point [for a new building] is substantially different from what we asked for [in bonds], and I think that, right there, if it was this price point and that was asked for a brand-new standalone [building], we very likely could have had a different outcome [in November],” Oviedo Mayor Megan Sladek said. 

“It’s the only thing that makes sense; it’s a 13% cost differential doing a brand-new building vs. not,” she said. “Then it could go anywhere and it could be financed in a variety of ways.”

The $47 million estimate residents voted on in the November referendum was created based on the 2017 study, while ZHA’s $26 million estimate was made based on the 2018 study. Need projections are through 2038.

They also discussed two additional possibilities that would work in conjunction with the above estimates: selling or leasing the parcel of land the current police building sits on, and entering into a public-private partnership.

Projections by ZHA estimate that the sale of the land could generate between $2-3 million.

”I like the [option of] build the new building and sell the land,” councilmember Bob Pollack said. “As the real estate market changes, and with all the downtown — with the zoning that we gave it for the future land use and everything else — I think that we could possibly get more than [the projected sale price].” 

This option, Pollack said, would give council the opportunity to be within range of allotting $10 million — the possible limit before a need for a voter referendum — for the remaining cost on top of the approved $11.6 million. If the city is not able to use the 1-cent sales tax money for that cost, it may lead to an increase in millage rate, or property taxes.

However, selling valuable land is an issue for some.

”I am more inclined to do a land lease than to sell it,” Sladek said. “That is a really valuable asset. We do not know what that area will look like in 30 years.”

The proposed public-private partnership option would hire a company to design and build a new police department, while the city would enter into a 20-year lease agreement, owning the building after 20 years. While costs would be comparable, it could speed the timeline up by 6 to 8 months, according to ZHA. 

“We are not [currently] set up for [a public-private partnership],” city manager Bryan Cobb said. 

For the estimate, ZHA considered staffing changes, city growth, changes due to COVID-19, operational changes and multi-use spaces.

Additionally, ZHA said the numbers were developed based on similar projects also in the bidding stage or just completed, such as the University of Florida public safety facility, Northport’s $120 million facility and Apopka’s, rather than compared to ones that were completed more than a year or two ago.

“I do think we need to look to the future,” Britton said. “We need to cover all the needs for what we think we’re going to need into the future.”

ZBA will now take the feedback from council and review the cost estimates of a new 29,000 square-foot building, a new annex and renovations to the existing building and gather more information on similar recently constructed buildings nearby for review. They will also develop a schedule with milestones for the city and contractors to reach.

The City Council still must determine how the project will be funded, either through raised property taxes, the 1-cent sales tax funds, additional bonds — which may mean a new referendum vote — or another funding source.

”I am not comfortable raising the millage just to borrow it,” Sladek said. “The voters said no. Granted, it was for a huge amount, but I would rather go back out to the voters and have a dedicated certain funding source, straight from the voters.”