Municipal Facility Planning

Current planning for the new PSM anticipates the new building will house five key City functions: Police, Public Works and Maintenance, the Emergency Operations Center, IT & GIS, and the Customer Service Team.

The benefits of co-locating these departments include: improved operational and emergency response coordination, efficiency in co-locating protected and secured parking, significant overlap in common space needs, large spaces driven by specific departmental needs can be shared, and housing key public safety and emergency response capabilities in a building constructed to Risk Category IV that can continue operations after a significant seismic event.

For more information on programming needs of the building, see the presentation from the February 4th City Council planning session.

During the February 4th City Council Planning Session, the Public Safety and Maintenance (PSM) Facility project team will provide an update on the progress of the schematic design and seek Council feedback on key design strategies and considerations. You can view the meeting materials here.

This is the first of several City Council discussions scheduled for this year to review and evaluate the PSM design. Additionally, the City plans to gather public input and feedback through a community engagement process later this year.

City staff and the architectural team, Northwest Studio, began the “schematic design” phase for the PSM facility last fall. Schematic design is the first step in taking a concept and turning it into a specific design plan, including architectural drawings and a site plan. Last October, Mayor Nice, Councilmember Weinberg, and the PSM design team toured Police Department facilities in Shoreline, the University of Washington campus, and Kirkland. The team heard about both successes and “lessons learned” from the construction or renovation of these police facilities to help inform work as we plan for our new facility.

At the February 4, 2025, City Council Planning Session the Public Safety and Maintenance Facility (PSM) design team gave the City Council an update on the progress of schematic design of the PSM Facility. You can review the agenda bill, the presentation, and the meeting recording is available here.  

Staff provided an overview of the facilities and the circumstances leading to the design to design the PSM Facility.  The City’s architect team Northwest Studio presented the early schematic design documents and cost estimates to the City Council. They also sought feedback from the City Council on design strategies and early design choices.  

The design team presented a preliminary cost estimate of the PSM Facility, estimating that it will have a cost range between $105 and $110 million. This estimate includes constructions costs, soft costs, an escalation factor, and state and local sales tax. 

A more detailed cost estimate will be prepared during the Schematic Design process as the building and site plans are further refined. The revised Schematic Design Cost estimate will be presented to the City Council in June 2025.

In the fall of 2024, Mayor Nice, Councilmember Weinberg, and the PSM design team toured Police Department facilities in Shoreline, the University of Washington campus, and Kirkland. The team heard about both successes and “lessons learned” from the construction or renovation of these police facilities to help inform work as we plan for our new facility.

The design team and Councilmembers Anderl and Jacobson toured the Kitsap County Public Works facility in December of 2024. This tour focused on their office space and training space layout, ingress/egress for large vehicles and equipment, covered storage, lighting, security, and staff amenity spaces.

The project team will continue to learn from comparable sites and neighboring agencies as the design process progresses.

Once City Council gave direction to begin planning for the Public Safety and Maintenance Facility, staff and the City’s architectural consultant team, Northwest Studio, have conducted workshops with the City teams anticipated to be housed in the future PSM building. This pre-design work considered the spaces needed in the building, in addition to how the spaces are best organized to achieve efficient workflows, to plan for future growth, and to accommodate changing space needs over time

In the fall of 2024, the PSM design team conducted a follow-up site visit with the City’s Public Works Department operational leads assess how the Public Works teams utilize the facility and yard space for equipment and materials storage. The visit focused on optimizing these areas in the new facility to enhance efficiency, improve service levels, and reduce operational costs.

The PSM design team also led a site tour of the City Hall and Public Works Building properties for all subconsultants working on the project. This tour allowed the various specialty contractors of the design team – such as civil and structural engineering, landscaping, and architecture – to see the conditions and context of each property and ask questions of staff and design team leads.

At the May 21, 2024 City Council meeting, City staff presented an update to the Public Safety and Maintenance Building design process.

At the March 1 Planning Session, City Council directed the City Manager to begin planning for a new Public Safety and Maintenance Building (PSM) on the current City Hall Campus (see AB 6420). This new facility will replace the existing Public Works Building and provide a new combined home for the City’s Public Works teams, Police Department, Emergency Operations Center, and IT & GIS.

Staff and the City’s architectural consultant team, Northwest Studio, have conducted workshops with the staff teams expected to be housed in the future PSM building to inform the ongoing design work. The pre-design work considers the spaces needed in the building, in addition to how the spaces are best organized to achieve efficient workflows, to plan for future growth, and to accommodate changing space needs over time.

The presentation also included an overview of Risk Category levels in building design. The risk category of a building reflects the relative resilience to natural disasters and other building failure risks. The new PSM building is intended to be a Level IV Risk Category Building. Risk Category IV includes buildings that are essential in that their continuous use is needed, particularly in response to disasters. Police stations and emergency vehicle garages, Emergency Operations Centers, public works staff areas, and equipment necessary for emergency response, must remain operational during and after major disaster type events.

The presentation concluded with a commitment to continue the work with Police, Public Works, EOC staff, and IT & GIS to gather feedback on design concepts and proposed building programming and workflow. City staff are preparing to return to the City Council in June to present preliminary design and siting concepts for the Public Safety and Maintenance building, including early cost estimates.

Read the materials here and view the presentation here.