DEAR EDITOR:
I’d like to offer you and, more importantly the citizens of our
community, some facts relating to the recent (Feb. 24) editorial in
The Dispatch critical of the City Council for authorizing us to
send the new police department project out to bid.
DEAR EDITOR:
I’d like to offer you and, more importantly the citizens of our community, some facts relating to the recent (Feb. 24) editorial in The Dispatch critical of the City Council for authorizing us to send the new police department project out to bid.
Your editorial attempts to establish a credible benchmark for building police stations in the San Francisco Bay Area by printing selected information out of the March 2002 issue of Building Design and Construction magazine indicating that the per-square-foot cost in 2002 in the San Francisco Bay Area for constructing a police station – for the basic building – was $176.09.
This is partial information which misrepresents the facts and misleads the reader. You have left out a critical footnote to the article that would put this cost per square foot into a more realistic perspective to our project.
The articles footnote states, “Costs are for the basic building and do not include sitework, land, development, specialty finishes or equipment. Square foot costs vary significantly from project to project because of quality, complexity and economic climate. For a detailed list of building components included in these figures, see Means Square Foot Costs.”
Most of the items NOT included in the $176.09 square foot costs are included in our project numbers.
Our cost estimates are based on both the Means Square Foot Costs and an analysis of true costs to construct actual police departments.
Our architect, Larry Wolf, reviewed the article and comments, “… cost comparisons like the BD&C article are informative, but unreliable. There value is to show trends, not accuracy.”
Larry has conducted a survey of Police Facility Comparative Costs for police facilities that have been built – four of which are in the SF Bay Area. The average cost is $265 per square foot with ours estimated to be at $271 per square foot.
You attempt to compare us to Morgan Hill, again misrepresenting the facts by stating, “… price tag – $25M – is nearly triple what nearby Morgan Hill plans to spend for a similarly sized police station.” Over the next 20 years, Morgan Hill needs about 25,000 square feet compared to our 48,574 square feet – about half of ours and certainly NOT similar in size.
Your editorial expresses concern about the two-story underground parking garage. The City of Gilroy is not exempt from zoning and associated parking requirements. Eventually, a parking garage would have to be built to support the Civic Center Campus. The most economical time to build it is now.
Due to limited land availability, it makes the most sense to build it below the new police facility. If the planned below ground parking garage is not built, most of remaining homes on Dowdy Street would have to be purchased and demolished to build a parking garage – at a much higher cost.
The new underground parking garage will provide 260 parking spaces for police and other city employees thus freeing up surface parking. The citizens we serve will be able to park close to the city services they are seeking.
Lastly, you have told your readers that their tax dollars are paying for the new police facility. This is not true – impact fees are funding the project without a single cent coming from the general “taxpayers” fund.
In my opinion, The City Council has been very responsible to the community during this entire project and should be commended. Since June of 1996, there have been approximately 20 public meetings/hearings to inform and include the community. This new police facility has been designed to include most all of the community needs and address their concerns.
I welcome contact by any member of this community who may have questions regarding the new police facility.
Lanny Brown, Gilroy,
Assistant Police Chief,
Co-Project Manager for New Police Facility
Submitted Tuesday, March 4 to ed****@****ic.com
