The Grantsville City Council reviewed more detailed plans for how a proposed $3.6 million police station and court complex could be designed during a work meeting Wednesday.
Architect Jim Child of JRCA Architects, a Salt Lake City-based firm, presented the floor plan for a 12,800-square-foot building, which is about 900 square feet smaller than a preliminary design. The plan retains most of the same elements, including both court and police functions, a joint, secure lobby and a community meeting space.
While the city council had originally considered retaining the existing recreation center located north of the library, Child recommended the building be demolished and replaced with a smaller ancillary building for large evidence and bulk storage.
The new design also includes a sally port at the rear of the building to provide a secure means of bringing suspects in for questioning or protecting victims. In domestic violence cases with a stalking component, for instance, several cars can leave the secure sally port at once to disguise the victim’s location, Grantsville City Attorney Joel Linares said.
Several of the rooms in the justice center serve dual purposes in an effort to save space, according to Child. A daily briefing room in the police section of the building would double as a jury deliberation room and the community room could host training for police officers.
About 4,500 square feet would be designated to the court, with the remainder set aside for the police department.
The new floor plan from JRCA also included a new locker room layout, with a shared locker area but separate, private changing areas. Child said that many departments, including Grantsville, have many more male officers than female officers and a joint locker room saves potentially wasted space of having separate locker areas by gender.
“It seems to work very well to fill that flexibility and need,” Child said. “The added benefit that we’ve found in police facilities … is that it kind of helps, even a little bit, with the camaraderie.”
The police station, which will be located east of Bowery Street between the existing pavilion and the recreation center, will have public parking to the south that could be shared with the city library. The solar panels on the recreation center will be put on the new police station and ancillary building.
The Grantsville City Council approved JRCA Architects’ $182,000 bid to design the proposed justice center back in March.
In February, finance director Sherrie Broadbent outlined the city’s plan to finance the $3.6 million building. The city would use $400,000 in public safety impact fees and $500,000 from the city’s general fund’s reserve fund as a down payment.
The remaining $2.7 million will be paid for with a 30-year loan, which the city could be approved for at 2.5 percent, according to Mayor Brent Marshall.
Up to 44 percent of the project’s costs could be covered by public safety impact fees, which are generated from building permits. The city receives a flat rate of $1,235 in public safety impact fees for each building permit.
