The City of Kirkland’s plan to streamline police, corrections and municipal court services by consolidating them in a remodeled commercial building in the Totem Lake area will the subject of a public meeting July 10.
Plans call for the remodeling of the 102,000-square-foot building at 11831 NE 120th Avenue to begin in February, 2013, and for the work to be finished in 12-18 months. The Kirkland Police Department and city jail will move out of their existing location to the new Public Safety Building, which will also house the .
Police Chief Eric Olsen and Municipal Court Judge Michael Lambo will discuss how having the court, jail and police department in one location will make operations more efficient at the meeting, from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 10. The meeting will be at the existing Kirkland Municipal Court, 11515 NE 118th Street.
The city bought the former Costo Home building for $10.5 million in 2010 in anticipation of annexation, which took effect in June of 2011 and increased Kirkland’s population from 49,000 to 80,000. The city has long identified a need for more space at cramped City Hall on 5th Avenue, and the move will free up space there and also to a lesser extent at the city’s maintenance shops on 8th Street.
The new building is almost in the geographic center of the city in the and will give police more space, increase the jail capacity from 12 beds to 55, provide more parking for the court and reduce the cost of transporting prisoners from the city jail to the court.
The city has hired the architectural firms of Miller-Hull Partnership to design the new Public Safety Building, and representatives of the company will provide an overview of their plans at the meeting.
Features of the new building will include:
- Security fence to be installed around the perimeter of the property.
- Space for 55 jail beds with “rough out” for additional 30 beds.
- Possibly an indoor firing range, which is still subject to approval by the City Council.
- Secure staff entrances and public entrances for police and court visitors.
- Two public meeting spaces.
- A plaza area outside of the front entrances.
- The city seeks to achieve a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver designation for the building.
For more information about the project and to submit a question about the project, visit www.kirklandwa.gov/publicsafetybuilding.
