TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Tallahassee City Commission has narrowed its potential sites for a new Tallahassee Police headquarters down to two.
The two locations are city-owned properties, which will avoid any additional costs associated with land acquisition. The two locations are:
- Lake Bradford Road Wastewater Treatment Plant, 1815 Lake Bradford Road
- Northwood Centre, 1904 N. Monroe Street/514 W. Tharpe Street
The city says engagement with the public will continue to drive the site selection process. A community meeting will be held for each site to garner additional input from neighbors, as well as the community at large.
Additionally, during this stage of the process, preliminary site layouts and in-depth evaluations will be completed. Staff will then present a summary of findings, including a preliminary cost analysis, and seek direction from the city commission on the final site selection.
After authorization has been received, the architect will develop conceptual drawings of the new TPD headquarters.
The vision for the new headquarters is that it will provide adequate space for TPD’s more than 400 officers and staff, meet current and future operational needs and expand the concept of a traditional police station by also incorporating a variety of publicly available features to serve residents.
A multi-functional facility of this type will help police officers connect and build strong bonds with residents, a focus of TPD’s community policing efforts.
For more information, visit Talgov.com/TPDHQ.
The Tallahassee City Commission could be one step closer to finding a new home for its police department.
Commissioners will decide if they want to go with the top suggested locations or if they just want to pick among the three options the city already owns.
Town South on the Southside of the city is one of the top ranked locations, but the city doesn't own it. It's a location that's caused a lot of back and forth throughout the search.
Some people are disappointed that the city may not put a new TPD Headquarters in the Southside. There's even a petition floating around.
The plans to build a public safety complex in the Town South Centre was scrapped after people in the area said the community wasn't involved.
The city put together a more community driven plan, allowing people to suggest locations and meet with commissioners to talk about plans.
Now the city could decide to pick among three city-owned lots, despite the fact that the Town South Centre is the second most suggested site. Now there's a petition asking leaders to reconsider.
Christic Henry, who started petition to consider moving TPD to Southside, says moving TPD to the Southside will bring the growth and development and the area desperately needs it.
"That will go a long ways to perceptions of safety in Southside, but even the very infrastructure proximity is going to bring value to the area and drive interest from business," said Henry.
The city says picking from options that the city already owns will save time and money.
"The second recommended was really the Town South Centre. They also asked us to consider, the public asked us to consider, a site that didn't require additional acquisition," said Cynthia Barber, Deputy City Manager. "So that site is not being recommended for that reason."
The commission will decide if they want to follow the recommendation Wednesday night.
Regardless of what the commission decides to do, the next phase will be more community meetings.
The focus however will be on renderings and what the community wants included for the top three choices.
