Town hall on proposed North Port police station raises questions about its size

NORTH PORT – Based on the reception it received at a March 21 town hall, North Port officials need to settle several open-ended aspects of its proposal to build a new police station if they want voters to approve borrowing $35 million needed to help finance construction.

City officials want to build a $122.7 million police station by piecing together funding from a variety of sources, with one, a $35 million bond issue to be repaid through a dedicated property tax, that must be approved by city voters on the Nov. 5 ballot.

Another $50 million would come from deferring projects that had been planned to be paid for through a local sales tax, the largest of which is Phase Two of widening Price Boulevard.

Potential sales of city owned properties could bring available funds up to $100.6 million.

Realistically, the city must nail down a concrete scope and project cost for the station before the Nov. 5 referendum.

City commissioners will meet with the board of the North Port Area Chamber of Commerce on April 2,\ to see if the business group is willing to help publicize the referendum.

While North Port officials can explain the need for a bond issue prior to the referendum, state law precludes them from urging residents to vote in favor of the project.

Most of the people who asked questions at the town hall – either in person or online via Facebook – had basic inquiries, such as whether less expensive options had been explored, if the station could be built in phases, the use of the existing building, whether smaller buildings could be purchased for substations and what properties would be sold to help pay for the facility.

Two former city commissioners – Vanessa Carusone and Jill Luke – offered their thoughts on the prospect of spending as much as $122.7 million on what could be an 108,900-square-foot main building with 7,400-square-foot special operations garage and 5,230-square-foot vehicle uplift garage on 19.2 acres off of Toledo Blade Boulevard.

Carusone noted that she was on the City Commission both when the current City Hall Complex – which includes City Hall, the police station, a fire station and the George Mullen Center – was first envisioned, as well as when the need for a larger police facility was broached.

The current 32,000-square-foot station was built to handle a population of about 78,000 people.

“We are far beyond the 78,000 population,” Carusone said, then added that it was under-sized when it opened in 2006.

For that, she blamed a former interim city manager who put in change orders that shrunk the facility, without receiving input from departments.

“When we opened the doors right away, we knew we were at a deficit,” Carusone added. “The forensics team was working out of what would be a storage place.”

Carusone also expressed concerns about the way the city is planning to pay for the work − specifically an increased tax rate rate to fund a bond issue – but also stressed that, “I do want people to understand this is necessary.

“This is not a want, this is a need.”

Luke was also concerned about a tax increase with many property owners still recovering from Hurricane Ian – with blue tarps still covering roofs – increased property insurance rates and the need for more residents to buy flood insurance since the Federal Emergency Management Agency revised its flood maps. The maps determine where flood insurance is required.

Luke also suggested that the department would be better off scaling back to building an 80,000-square foot facility that was projected to meet the city’s needs through 2030 at an anticipated cost of $78 million.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: North Port hears questions from residents on new police station plan