Kirkland Neighborhood News: Kirkland leaders host July 10 informational meeting on public safety building

Friday, June 29, 2012

City of Kirkland
NEWS RELEASE
123 – Fifth Avenue
Kirkland, WA 98033
www.kirklandwa.gov

Contact: Marie Stake
City Manager’s Office
mstake@kirklandwa.gov
425-587-3021

June 29, 2012

Kirkland leaders host July 10 informational meeting on public safety building
City to remodel existing commercial building to co-locate police and court services

KIRKLAND, Wash. – The City of Kirkland is remodeling an existing commercial structure in the Totem Lake Business District to be its new location for its Police Department and Municipal Court and is hosting an informational community meeting on July 10.  Police Chief Eric Olsen and Municipal Court Judge Michael Lambo will discuss current police and court services and how they will be improved by the two departments functioning from the same building.  Representatives from Miller-Hull Partnership, LLC will give an overview of the building design.  Community members are invited to learn about and comment on the latest in design plans.  The meeting will be held at the current Kirkland Municipal Court, 11515 NE 118th Street from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.  A formal presentation by city leaders will begin at 7 p.m.  For more information about the project and to submit a question about the project, visit www.kirklandwa.gov/publicsafetybuilding.

In anticipation of serving 30,000 new residents due to the largest annexation in Kirkland’s history, the City purchased a 102,000 square foot commercial building for the purposes of co-locating police and court services to better serve Kirkland’s population of 81,000.  Police, Corrections, and Municipal Court staff work closely together to coordinate services efficiently and effectively.  The location of new facility is in the Totem Lake Business District is in the geographic center of the City. Remodeling an existing building rather than constructing a new one provides cost savings. 

The new building provides separate public entrances to the Police Department, which includes the jail, and to the Municipal Court.  Two multi-purpose meeting rooms will be available for public use upon request.  A security fence will be installed around perimeter of the property.  The City seeks to achieve a LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver designation.   Costs will be funded primarily from the sale of general obligation bonds, the sale of current city-owned buildings that will be vacated, and from reserve accounts that have been set aside over time for facility upgrades and remodels.