Northglenn Police Department officers are no strangers to potentially unsafe and hazardous conditions — but not from patrols. It’s the inadequately small space in the lower level of the city’s aging municipal building they’ve worked in for more than a decade that’s the problem.
The three-in-one center built and wired in the early 1980s is tucked on a hill behind the Northglenn Recreation Center at 11701 Community Center Drive. In just over 30,000 total square feet, the building currently houses the police department and the city’s municipal court and administration facilities all right on top of each other.
Officers have grown used to using converted closet spaces as offices and storing equipment in massive mobile containers lined up outside in the parking lot.
“It is a 40- to 45-year-old structure that is either near or at its useful life in terms of efficiency,” said David Willett, Northglenn’s director of public works. “(The police department is) very tight quarters, it’s antiquated, there are some safety concerns, and … the building as a whole is hard to maintain and costly to maintain.”
But the city is halfway through the design of a new approximately 47,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art police and justice center to be built near Community Center Drive and West 112th Avenue that will at long last allow the department and municipal court system to have the type of facility that the city needs to be able to grow and efficiently serve the residents of Northglenn.
“We want the new justice center to be a proud building that truly represents the community here in Northglenn. We want it blended and accepted by the neighborhood, ” Willett said. “The building will have a community space, an underground water detention facility … and the central core will have an emergency management planning area.”
The genesis of the justice center project sprung from a study done two summers ago that analyzed problems in the police department, .
For example, the police department uses around 15,000 square feet right now but the 2014 needs assessment estimated that the department should have about 34,000 square feet. Additionally, the Northglenn City Council Chambers and municipal court room are one in the same. This creates challenges in both the scheduling and functionality of the room, city officials said.
“I’ve been here for 24 years, and this building has been remodeled at least three times that I know of — moving around doors and walls and things like that to try and accommodate and make space where necessary,” said Ron Osgood, Northglenn Police Commander. “(The new justice center) is supposed to be planned for department growth over approximately 30 years for potentially 20 to 25 percent.”
The estimated cost of the building is between $21 million and $23 million. The city’s finance department is exploring potential methods to pay for the project.
Throughout the design process, the city is working to ensure that the facility incorporates LED technology, a radiant floor heating system, solar powered energy components and a layout that encourages pedestrian mobility. It’s also working on pedestrian improvements to Civic Center Drive. The goal is to have neighborhood-friendly appeal because the site is close to several communities, schools and businesses like the amusement center Boondocks at 11425 Community Center Drive.
“We are thrilled they will remain close to our location,” said Deric Thorpe, general manger of Boondocks. “Our relationship with the Northglenn Police Department is strong and we look forward to maintaining that relationship into the future.”
The construction project will go out to bid early in 2017, should be complete before the end of 2018. Hoefer Wysocki Architecture, a Kansas-based company specializing in the design of police stations and other municipal buildings is working on the layout of the facility.
There will be an open house and public meeting concerning the justice center project from 6 to 9 p.m., Aug. 18 at the Northglenn Maintenance and Operations building at 12301 Claude Court.
Northglenn officials are currently discussing options for the construction of a new city administrative building and potential uses for the old municipal center site.