South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Proposal seeks to build $100M police HQ
Station would cost taxpayers, decision may go to voters
FORT LAUDERDALE – A new Fort Lauderdale police headquarters would cost property owners for the next 30 years, but the decision likely will be up to voters.
A majority of Fort Lauderdale commissioners said Tuesday that they favor asking voters to support a $100 million new police station, to be built at the current site at 1300 W. Broward Blvd.
A formal vote will be taken in December. Commissioners said they want to talk to residents first.
“I think it’s very important that we don’t spin this in any way, but just talk facts,” Commissioner Heather Moraitis said, asking for talking points to convey to residents.
Issues to be decided are whether to take the question to voters in March, where to build the new station and whether to combine it with a bond question for $150 million in parks improvements.
For a $300,000 home, the increase in property taxes for the police station and accompanying high-security parking garage would be about $50 a year for 30 years, City Manager Lee Feldman advised.
The city has maintained the same property tax rate for 12 years for general city operations, Fort Lauderdale’s 1958 police headquarters on Broward Boulevard is proposed to be replaced.
but because of rising property values, tax bills have increased every year. This tax would be in addition to any increase in the general city portion of the bill.
Voter approval is required for a general obligation bond like the one proposed for the police station, where the money that’s borrowed is paid back using a property
tax.
Few specifics about the current building’s problems were
given Tuesday. But the mayor and all four city commissioners agreed a replacement is warranted. Photos of corroded pipes and crowded, cluttered offices
Mayor Dean Trantalis said it’s imperative the city consider a new station “If we’re going to be able to be responsive in the way we need to be responsive … and keep up with technology as well as manpower needs.”
The 1958 station is “an eyesore” that doesn’t have enough space, Police Chief Rick Maglione said, and its security features are outdated.
When Hurricane Irma was headed to South Florida and predicted to be maximum strength, Category 5, he said he had to shut down the building.
“We completely evacuated that building,” Maglione said. “We were afraid it was going to fall down.”
Commissioner Ben Sorensen said the poor state of the building could work against efforts to recruit and retain officers.
Trantalis said the city could consider relocating the station, either to the current City Hall site at 100 N. Andrews Ave., or on city land near Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport, at 6000 NW 21st Ave. It could be built in conjunction with a proposed citycounty government center, he said.
But the four city commissioners and the police chief said the current site is probably best. Maglione said the busiest areas for police calls are all within two miles of the station.
Maggie Hunt, a resident of Sailboat Bend behind the station, urged commissioners to build the replacement headquarters on the same property.
“You’re in the middle of where you get the most calls, and I think response times are critical,” she said. “It would hurt all the neighborhoods around there if you weren’t there.”
The current station is
85,000 square feet. The new station is proposed at more than double that size.
In other action, Fort Lauderdale commissioners Tuesday:
■ HOMELESS: Agreed to pull $800,000 from emergency reserves to contribute to the county towards housing for homeless people living in a downtown encampment. The county will use the site for construction equipment for work on the Main Library, after the roughly 70 homeless people are moved out.
■ WAVE: Were told that a labor-intensive process is under way to reimburse property owners who paid special assessments for the now defunct Wave streetcar system.