New police headquarters belongs in the downtown

Two years ago Peterborough city council’s budget chair had two well-founded concerns with a proposed new police station: it was too expensive and much larger than necessary.

The consultants hired to produce a plan for the station identified the preferred option as a sprawling, single-level 95,000-square-foot station that would only fit on a large, vacant site near the edge of the city. The price was $49 million.

That report was an update in an ongoing process. The consultants are working with a committee of council and police board members and senior city hall and police staff to come up with a final recommendation.

Now the next update is in and the concerns Coun. Dean Pappas, the budget chair, raised are even more worrisome.

The projected cost is now $68 million, a 45-percent increase in two years.

A report presented to council on Monday gives no indication of the size of the building, but it certainly would not have gotten smaller with that kind of price hike.

The original plan was three times the size of the current station. While that building is too small, 95,000 square feet is far larger than what is needed now, and maybe ever if the focus on policing versus social service work continues to evolve.

Cost and size are issues that could be dealt with in a rethink of the design and construction schedule. We will come back to that idea.

Location also created concern from the outset.

The preferred option in the original report would not fit on a downtown site. The notion of moving the main police presence, along with more than 200 jobs, out of downtown was opposed by several councillors and the downtown business community.

Not long before, council had been highly critical of the federal government’s decision to move its main local office complex out of downtown. The loss of well-paid workers who were more likely to shop, eat lunch and generally add to the vitality of downtown when they worked there was a valid concern.

Add to that the effect of police more easily and visibly patrolling downtown streets from a home base in the core and a downtown location is not only preferred, it should be mandatory.

It seems that message has gotten through. The committee overseeing the project recommended that the consultants be asked to review and assess only downtown sites. The police board then endorsed that recommendation.

However, the city staff report that arrived at council proposes identification and review of seven potential sites anywhere in the city, with only a “preference” for a downtown location.

Some might say that’s prudent, covering all the options. But Coun. Henry Clarke says council is unanimous in preferring a downtown site. If that’s true, prudent is also redundant.

As for the cost and size, the solution seems simple. Scale down the building now and design it so more space could be added if and when needed.

The detailed site review is to be delivered in January. That’s an accelerated timeline as city projects go, and would allow for a decision before the 2022 election campaign ramps up.

Council can and should further streamline the process by ordering a review of only downtown sites, and building designs and cost projections based on staged expansion.