City Seeking Citizen Feedback on New TPD Headquarters

Commissioners Set to Discuss Proposed Properties at October Meeting

September 18, 2019

After receiving considerable public input, applying the minimum required criteria and speaking with property owners, the City of Tallahassee is seeking feedback on five properties that are under consideration for the new Tallahassee Police Department (TPD) headquarters. Those five properties (in no particular order), include:

• Lake Bradford Road Wastewater Treatment Plant, 1815 Lake Bradford Road (City-owned)
• Current Tallahassee Police Department, 234 E. 7th Avenue (City-owned)
• Northwood Centre, 1904 N. Monroe Street/514 W. Tharpe Street (City-owned)
• Florida Department of Children and Families Complex, 1317 Winewood Boulevard
• Towne South Shopping Center, 2525 S. Monroe Street

Tallahassee residents are encouraged to submit feedback via email to tpdsiteselection@talgov.com or call (850) 891-4968.

These short-listed properties will be brought before the City Commission for consideration at its October 16 meeting. During the regularly scheduled meeting, the Commission is expected to reduce the number of properties from five to three or less, and authorize staff to initiate community meetings, in-depth evaluations of each remaining property and develop preliminary conceptual plans. Written notice of the City Commission meeting has been mailed to the property owners and tenants within 1,500 feet of each short-listed property.

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.

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.

For more information on the site selection process for TPD’s new headquarters, visit Talgov.com/TPDHQ. Learn more about TPD at Talgov.com or by following @TallyPD on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

The City Commission meeting scheduled for October 16 will begin at 4 p.m. and take place in the Commission Chambers located at City Hall, 300 S. Adams Street. The meeting, which is open to the public, will air live on WCOT (Comcast and CenturyLink channel 13) and be streamed to Talgov.com and Facebook.com/CityofTLH.