Commission Selects Sites for Future TPD and TFD Facilities
January 29, 2020
Today, Jan. 29, the Tallahassee City Commission unanimously selected the former Northwood Centre to be the future home of the Tallahassee Police Department's new headquarters. The second site under consideration – the Lake Bradford Road Wastewater Treatment Plant – will also be developed; the Commission voted unanimously to build a new Tallahassee Fire Department station at the location.
Following significant community input and data analysis, the Northwood Centre, located at 1940 N. Monroe Street, was the recommended site by citizens and technical experts due to its central location, parcel size and accessibility, among other factors. This decision aligns with the objectives adopted in the City's 2024 Strategic Plan, which sets the target of beginning operations at the new facility by 2024.
As part of next steps, the architect will develop conceptual drawings of the new TPD headquarters. Additional opportunities for community input will be scheduled as the project progresses.
The City received over 700 emailed and written responses regarding feasibility of both sites. While this feedback favored the Northwood Centre location, it also suggested that public investment at the former wastewater treatment plant, located at 1815 Lake Bradford Road, was both desirable and necessary.
The City had identified a need for additional fire and medical services on Tallahassee's southside, as there are over 5,000 calls for service in the Lake Bradford area annually. The addition of a fire station in this area would improve emergency response times and provide a higher level of service, while also affording the opportunity to increase neighborhood engagement and overall community resiliency.
The vision for the new Lake Bradford Road facility may also incorporate other public amenities, such as a TEMPO resource center to help local youth connect with educational and employment opportunities, a station for TPD's Community-Oriented Policing Squad and public gathering space. These amenities would complement the neighborhood improvement efforts of citizen groups in the nearby Greater Bond, Callen and Providence neighborhoods.
TPD has conducted operations from the headquarters on 7th Avenue since 1972. Over the past several decades, space constraints to support modern public safety services have continued to mount within the current building, which was originally designed for other purposes and is nearly 100 years old. The department has grown considerably in terms of the number of employees and the variety of services it offers to the community since moving into the current facility. During the evaluation of TPD's current headquarters, it was identified that the future home for TPD needed to serve a much broader purpose.
To meet this need, a site selection process was outlined and approved by the City Commission at its March 6, 2019, meeting. The City solicited and received a total of 68 site proposals from the community. The sites were evaluated based on criteria approved by the Commission, and the list was narrowed to 10 potential properties (three City-owned, seven privately owned). Of the seven privately owned properties, two indicated they would consider selling, thus further narrowing the list to five. Following public input at the October 16, 2019, City Commission meeting, the list was further refined to the top two sites. In December 2019, the project architect presented potential site layouts and other ideas for both properties at two community meetings to garner additional input from residents.
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.
Visit Talgov.com/TPDHQ for more information.
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