Proposed cost increases for new police station as city mulls location

There’s been a huge increase in the proposed cost of a new North District police station.

Members of the finance committee were told Monday that the preliminary estimate has increased almost 60 per cent — from the council-approved $23.4 million to $37.3 million.

City staff told councillors that most of the increase ($8.6 million) is the result of the need to possibly construct a second building on the complex to house police evidence and archival material.

Plans to locate evidence and archival storage in the new downtown headquarters had to be scrapped, WPS Chief Danny Smyth told the committee, when it was discovered there were load-bearing concerns at the Smith Street facility.

"It’s obviously frustrating to everybody that the facilities they moved into cannot accommodate their needs and this necessitates looking at another location," Coun. Scott Gillingham, chairman of the finance committee, told reporters following the meeting.

City hall and the WPS had originally planned to locate the new district police station on a portion of the Old Exhibition Grounds, east of McPhillips Street, but that site was strongly opposed by area residents, who were concerned about the loss of recreational space.

The city issued a formal Request For Proposals Nov. 2, seeking out possible new locations in the North End. The RFP closed Jan. 31. Councillors were told several bids were received and they are now being reviewed to determine the preferred proposal or proposals.

According to the terms of the RFP, the city wanted a property 4.5- 8 acres in size, with a minimum of 275-foot frontage on a regional street.

Brad Erickson, the city’ manager of municipal accommodations, told the committee the ideal location for a new police station is just north of Logan Avenue and Salter Street, but he added the city is open to any suitable site within the North End.

The new station was expected to be operational by the Fall of this year but the revised schedule puts that date sometime in the first quarter of 2022.

Plans for the new North District police station will be patterned after two recently-built facilities, the East and West district stations.

Gillingham said it makes sense to combine the two projects onto the single site, if the purchase price and land is acceptable, but officials said it’s still possible the evidence and archival storage facility could be built elsewhere.

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca