Over the past several months, Lompoc Police Chief Pat Walsh has said his department needs a new station.
Last week, a third-party observer reinforced that opinion.
A report released Tuesday by the 2015-16 Santa Barbara County grand jury stated that the Lompoc police station, located at Civic Center Plaza, has “exceeded its planned operational capacity” and recommended that the City Council explore upgrading or replacing the 29-year-old facility.
Walsh, whose department has already collaborated with an architect, said Thursday that he and the LPD are in the early conceptual stages of what he hopes will ultimately lead to the construction of a new police headquarters "10 to 15 years down the road."
That notion is very much up in the air, however, according to a written statement from the LPD regarding the grand jury's findings.
"The possibility of a new police station sometime in the next 10 to 15 years has been discussed on a conceptual level, but at this point there are no set plans to build a new facility," it read.
Still, Walsh noted that a workgroup has been formed to look at the merits of renovating the current facility versus constructing a completely new complex.
Because the current building’s footprint isn’t large enough to meet the department’s needs through renovation, he said, he favors an all-new facility.
Walsh presented conceptual bubble diagrams, which are essentially early blueprints, for a new police station at a Public Safety Commission meeting on Sept. 30, 2015.
Those plans called for a three-story facility that would include a 38-by-78-foot mobile command and SWAT garage, a 36-by-40-foot Emergency Operations Center command room, a 35-by-30 foot evidence processing room and significantly more storage and office space.
The designs also included second-floor men’s and women’s locker rooms, a fitness center and conference rooms.
Among the possible locations mentioned was land near City Hall that is currently occupied by the building that formerly housed the since-closed city pool.
Due to the early nature of the conceptual designs — they haven’t yet been presented to the City Council — Walsh acknowledged that cost estimates could vary wildly. Depending on if the city decides to renovate the current building or go with the new construction, the project could cost anywhere from $8 million to $24 million in today’s dollars, he said.
A new facility with the amenities featured in those early plans would likely solve many of the problems pointed out in the grand jury report.
The primary issue cited by the grand jury was a lack of space, as evidenced by several closets being converted into offices and dispatcher workstations being so close that conversations can be heard over multiple phone lines.
Additionally, the report noted a lack of storage space in the LPD’s evidence room.
“All of these issues need to be promptly addressed by the Lompoc City Council, who should begin planning to update (and/or) replace this structure,” it concluded.
The LPD responded to those specific concerns in the statement released Friday.
"Our Police Department building is nearly 30 years old, and was built to accommodate our staff and needs at that time," it read. "We have grown as a department to meet the needs of our community, and are committed to finding solutions to meet any challenges we run into regarding space. We are actively evaluating our current facilities and needs."
Walsh said he is working with city staff to make sure funding is secured before moving forward with any plans to upgrade.
Lack of finances was a major part of the Lompoc City Council’s decision in March to vote down construction of a new station for the Lompoc Fire Department.
“The way I think is that if you’re going to run a police department or a fire department, you have to plan for the future,” Walsh said, specifically referring to acquiring funding for a new station. “You can’t just think about what you need for today. So I’m just trying to plan futuristically (in case) things change in the city, economically, in the next 20 years.”
May 28, 2016
Santa Maria Times
By Willis Jacobson
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