By By MIKE VOSS
Contributing Editor
Four recommended sites for a new police station in Washington are being sent to the Washington City Council for its consideration.
The four sites were selected Tuesday evening by a committee appointed by the council. The committee recommended the following sites:
• The baseball fields on West Third Street, near its intersection with Plymouth Street.
• The Herbert Perry Sr. property at John Small Avenue and Hodges Street.
• The Beaufort County Developmental Center property on West Fifth Street.
• Property adjacent to Warren Field Airport (North Market Street and Airport Road).
The committee’s recommendations go to the council for consideration at its March 8 meeting.
The committee, during a series of meetings in recent months, narrowed a list of 23 possible sites to the four it’s recommending to the council. The committee, using a set of criteria, assigned a score to each of the 23 sites. Some sites were eliminated from further consideration because of their locations in flood-prone areas or not being large enough. Others were eliminated because of the cost of acquiring the property.
The baseball-fields site received a score of 62, the highest score. The Herbert Perry Sr. property got a score of 47. The Beaufort County Developmental Center site received a score of 49. The property near the airport got a score of 59.
The city owns the baseball-fields site and the property near the airport. Building on the Perry site or the BCDC site would require the city to buy the land.
During their deliberations Tuesday, committee members talked about the advantages and disadvantages of the sites they reviewed.
Mark Recko, executive director of the Washington Housing Authority, suggested the city “put it somewhere where it’s going to make a difference.” Recko said he prefers the new police station be located as close to the “inner city” as possible.
Mike Hicks prefers the property near the airport.
“It’s the only site we could just about start building on tomorrow,” he said.
Councilman Doug Mercer, who attended the meeting as an observer, said, “I think you want your police station in the city. … The airport property is not in the city.”
F. Ray Moore asked why the former P.S. Jones High School site (at the corner of Bridge and East 11th streets), which tied the baseball-fields site with the high score of 62) had been removed from consideration. Moore said that site is “the best site — on all criteria.
Responding to Moore’s comments, William O’Pharrow responded “No.” O’Pharrow made it clear that site was no longer under consideration.
Moore questioned why the site had been removed from consideration if an “objective process” resulted in the site receiving the highest score. Moore was told the City Council (not the council now in office) removed the site from consideration.
In August 2009, rejected the former P.S. Jones site. That decision came after O’Pharrow, a spokesman for the city’s black community, presented 423 signatures on petitions opposing the proposal to build the new facility on that site. O’Pharrow told the council that he collected the 423 signatures in less than eight hours, adding that he believed he could have collected as many signatures, if not more, in the same amount of time on another day.
“I think this pretty much seals the fate of this site,” then-Mayor Judy Meier Jennette said at that August meeting.
Funding options
Earlier Tuesday, a council subcommittee discussed possible options for paying for a new police station.
Councilman Gil Davis said the city needs to know where the new police station will be built and the size of the facility so it’s in the best possible position to “look at all the possible ways to reduce the cost of the building.”
The committee was presented several options in regard to paying for the new police station. The following are among those options:
• A $4 million loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s community facilities program and a $100,000 grant. The loan would be paid back over 30 years, with the city paying $176,917 a year.
• A $4 million loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s community facilities program and a $100,000 grant. The loan would be paid back over 15 years, with the city paying $275,153 a year.
• A $4 million loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s community facilities program. The loan would be paid back over 30 years, with the city paying $182,700 a year.
• A $4 million loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s community facilities program. The loan would be paid back over 15 years, with the city paying $284,147 a year.
• Issuing Recovery Zone Economic Development Bonds (a subset of Build America Bonds). The bonds would be paid off over 15 years, with the city paying $275,768 a year.
If the city incorporates an emergency operations center into the new police station, it can apply for a grant that could be used to help pay for the cost of the new police station, according to Bianca Gentile, who’s identifying grant opportunities for the city.
The information provide to the subcommittee will make its way to the entire council, which has the final say on how the city will pay for the new police station. Further exploration of funding options by the subcommittee and/or the council is forthcoming, according to city officials.
(As the city gets closer to selecting a way to pay for the new police station, additional details of that method will be published.)
Last week, the city learned it had been selected to receive a $4 million loan and a $100,000 grant from the federal government to help pay for a new police station. However, Mayor Archie Jennings and some City Council members have questioned if the city should accept the loan and grant.
In an interview last week, Jennings said he and some City Council members are worried about “gotten the cart before the horse” in regard to building a new police station.
“We’re not ready to build a police station yet. We haven’t selected a site,” Jennings said then.
The mayor also said there is no design for the new police station and that he and council members want to further explore all facets regarding the construction of a new police station and how the city would pay for it.
“Without any of those decisions being made, I don’t see how we can’t act on the USDA award,” Jennings said.
The mayor said he and the council are not sure the city, at this time, can afford a $4 million loan.
The loan and grant offer expires Aug. 31. The 4 percent interest rate is guaranteed through March 31.