Item A: City Hall Complex Strategic Issues

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Results from the Police Consolidation Discussion: The project team provided five consolidation options for incorporating police facilities into the City Hall Complex and how they relate to City Hall building configurations. The consolidation options included the four options A-D that were presented at the March 8 City Council Workshop, plus a fifth consolidation option (Option E: All police functions in a separate facility from City Hall) that was discussed at the workshop. All options were shared with the public at the March 23,2006, Community Forum as shown in the summary report (Attachment A). In a small group format, community members discussed Question 2: "How important is it to you to have patrol facilities on the same site as City Hall?" and Question 3: "How important is it to you to have patrol facilities located downtown?" After discussion, group members cast their votes on the importance of the location of police patrol facilities. Design team members then tabulated and graphed the results and recorded comments. Nearly 73% of those responding (66 participants) voted that it is not important to have police patrol facilities on the same site as City Hall. Ten participants (about 11 %) voted that it is very important to have police patrol facilities on the same site as City Hall. Participants were divided over the importance of having police patrol facilities located downtown. About 43% (36 voting participants) voted that it was not important (1 and 2 on the scale), while approximately 49% (41 voting partici pants) voted that it is very important (4 and 5 on the scale). It is noteworthy that people voting on opposite ends of the scale agreed that a mutual goal was to integrate the police into neighborhoods and the civic fabric, and to decrease the perception of isolation and militarization. There was concern that the police would be less visible and less integrated in the community if they are not downtown. Yet those who voted "very important" also supported the addition of substations. Many expressed a desire for a storefront or precinct model of community policing and were unsure how the location of patrol facilities related to accomplishing that objective. Other comments included that it might be more cost-effective if police patrol facilities were located outside of the downtown, as well as that efficient use of downtown land for other city planning goals should be a concern. In addition, there were many who believed that it should be an administrative decision and police patrol facilities should be located in whatever manner is the most operationally and functionally efficient. Please refer to the forum summary (Attachment A) for a full and unedited range of comments. Space Needs Study: The Space Needs Study comprises the staff and space needs (including the area calculations summary shown on Attachment C) for a consolidated City Hall using current 2006 needs and projected planning milestones of2010, 2015, 2025, and 2030. The study will guide future planning efforts in building organization, size, division adjacencies, and other factors. Key findings in the Space Needs Study include: · Population-to-staffing projections: City staffing levels have historically grown at approximately the same annual average rate as City population, and the combined growth projections of all divisions except police are projected to continue at the same annual LICMOl2006 Council Agendas1M0604261S060426A.doc