State-of-the Art Public Safety Facility to be Unveiled

By Erica Williams
Staff Writer

August 26 -- Four years in the making, the six-story, $63 million Santa Monica Public Safety Facility -- rejected by voters in 1996 and beset by construction overbids that spiked the initial price tag and delayed completion -- is racing against the clock towards its public unveiling Wednesday.

On Monday, construction crews were at work putting on the finishing touches -- affixing signage in the lobby, finishing floors and installing chairs. Half the building was off-limits to a special press tour because of the last-minute work being done, including the top floor offices for the chief and his command staff as well as the internal affairs department, said police spokesman Lt. Frank Fabrega.

Dwarfing City Hall and the old police station, the 118,000-square-foot structure (with four floors above ground and two below) will serve as the new headquarters for the police and fire departments. The facility includes a 55-cell jail that can house up to 96 inmates, a state-of the art 9-1-1 dispatch center, and a spacious, high-tech emergency operations center.

"We're exceedingly excited at the possibility of bringing this state-of-the-art, 21st Century facility to the community," said Assistant City Manager Gordon Anderson. "It's going to be a hallmark of energy efficiency and sustainability, which is an important goal in our community, and it's going to allow our police and fire to provide the level of service our community has come to expect."

The need for a new facility became apparent after the 1994 Northridge Earthquake rocked the city. The quake caused a power outage in the outdated 1950s police building behind City Hall, forcing emergency response personnel to set up operations from a trailer in the parking lot.

Ten years later, the cost of the facility, which has long been plagued with economic uncertainty, has skyrocketed. In 1997, the year after voters narrowly rejected a $29.5 million bond to supplement the $12.9 million set aside by the City Council to fund the building, the council approved $43.7 million for the project.

But, to the chagrin of city officials, the lowest bid to build the state-of-the-art facility, came in $10 million above original estimates, ballooning construction costs. The city scrambled to cut back, scaling down the original design from 119,000 to 118,000 square feet and reducing the occupancy of the on-site jail from 146 to 96 inmates.

The City was also able to save money by offering cost-cutting incentives to the contractor, J. A. Jones Construction, and taking a design-build approach, securing a $44.6 million “guaranteed maximum price” for construction, Anderson said.

The $63 million price tag includes “soft costs” such as designing the structure, relocating utilities and building subterranean parking. The Olympic Drive extension was paid for using $2.6 million in Prop C funds, Anderson said.

An additional $300,000 was spent on constructing the subterranean storm drains, further delaying to the project because the soil required more remediation than anticipated, Anderson said. Furniture and equipment costs were $3.6 million and covered all the technological upgrades and ergonomic workspaces, he said.

For the nearly 200 SMPD officers and the supporting staff crammed into the outmoded half-century-old police building behind City Hall, the move early next month to the department’s new home is long overdue, police officials said. The move will allow police and fire personnel to better coordinate their efforts.

On the second floor just off the atrium is the new emergency operations center, where police, fire, public works and other departments will gather in the event of a major emergency, such as the Farmers Market tragedy, an earthquake, or a terrorist threat.

The large room is lined with desks that departments will share and equipped with the latest communications and broadcast equipment so City officials can address residents directly from the center during an emergency. Everything is electronically operated, including the blinds that descend to blacken the room and the projector screens concealed above the ceiling.

Also on the second floor is the communications center where the 9-1-1 dispatch center for police and fire will be housed and which will feature a state-of-the-art system. The police department will take all calls, with operators working out of four consoles each housing three ergonomically-designed sit-stand workstations. The fire department has two consoles.

Fire department administrative offices will have offices on the southeast side of the second floor.

Police patrol operations are all located on the first basement level of the building (no fire trucks will deploy from the new facility). They include, the watch commander’s office, a report room, the jail and jail visiting area and the juvenile area.

The jail is a significant upgrade from the current facility built in 1939, which, according to Police Chief James T. Butts, Jr, is the oldest jail in the state of California.

Rusty metal bars and dark dank cells have been replaced by well-lit, high-tech cells with shatter-proof windows and doors that are electronically locked and un-locked from the “Control Deck” -- an oval-shaped room in the middle of the floor where guards control all doors and gates and have an unobstructed view of cells in the two-level jail facility.

“Bars are the old days,” said Eric Uller, lead public safety systems analyst for the city. Uller designed and oversaw the installation of the building’s electronic and information systems.

The cells are also “sight and sound” isolated, Fabrega added, “because prisoners don’t need to communicate with each other.” Also part of the jail facility are five temporary holding cells, two detoxification cells and two padded safety cells.

Unlike the old building where no facilities existed to accommodate the public, police now have a front desk -- a spacious reception center in the lobby with soaring ceilings that open up to the second-floor atrium that filters in an abundance of natural light. A public art display to the right of the building’s entrance in the lobby will feature electronic light shows.

The area includes four walk-up windows, one of which is dedicated to parking and traffic. A fifth window allows access to personnel handling police records. All windows and walls are bullet-proof, Fabrega said.

The building includes a public plaza on its south side that leads into the lobby. The main attraction in the plaza will be a 13-foot waterfall cascading down the side of the building and emptying into a large reflecting pooling that will feature dancing water fountains.

The new facility boasts three large back-up generators that will power the building and all of City Hall for 72 hours in the event of a blackout.

The building also features two levels of subterranean parking for 115 emergency and police vehicles, community rooms and 15 conference rooms. A technically advanced evidence processing and identification area, as well as forensics sections, is on the second basement level.

The building also has been dubbed a "showcase" for environmentally friendly design, which maximizes natural daylight outside and inside and will have a raised floor heating and cooling system for higher air quality. Recycled water will be used throughout the building, as well as for the plaza waterfall and fountains and landscape irrigation.

The new Public Safety Facility will be officially dedicated Wednesday August 27 at 6:30 p.m. Tours of the building and public safety exhibits and demonstrations will be conducted beginning at 5:30 p.m.