Tigard mulls whether to build new City Hall, police station

City Council is looking at using restructured bonds, which would have to be voter-approved, to fund the proposed project

A new Tigard City Hall? City officials are talking about it — part of a larger plan that would also move the police station and build a multi-story parking structure next door.

At a Feb. 18 work session, the Tigard City Council examined a proposal to raze the current Tigard Public Works building on Southwest Burnham Street and replace it with a five-story building for city services, including police. An adjacent parking structure would be included as well.

This so-called "all-in-one-plus" approach would replace the city's core offices, including the current police station that has been deemed over the years to be dated, aging and inefficient.

"We think the AIO (all-in-one) concept has a lot of merit," City Manager Marty Wine told council members.

The plan would allow for extensive redevelopment of the downtown area that would, in part, pay for the proposed plan.

That includes using the current 9.5-acre campus where the existing city hall and police station are located, along with a small adjacent chunk of property not yet owned by the city, to construct as many as 450 apartment units. In addition, up to 300 apartments could be built on city-owned land along Burnham Street, officials said.

In addition to revenue from opening that land to apartments, Tigard would ask for voters to approve a bond measure that would effectively take the place of two previously approved bonds. Instead of increasing tax rates, the measure would replace a library bond scheduled to be paid off in 2022 and restructure payments on a parks bond set to be retired in 2031.

The current tax rate for bond payments in Tigard is 33.85 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation.

In paying for the new facility, Tigard could also draw on utilities and special revenue funds, photo red light camera enforcement revenues and bonding money raised from urban renewal, according to a staff report.

"This concept offers the potential to provide all city services most effectively in one location: achieve redevelopment goals for the downtown; be more cost-effective than any stand-alone alternative; and makes the best use of land that is in the public ownership in Tigard's urban renewal area," a staff report stated.

Meanwhile, a study is being conducted to locate a standalone public works building outside the downtown area. Library staff and services would remain where they are.

According to FFA Architecture and Interiors, a building needed to house city offices on Burnham Street would require 92,800 square feet, which would likely mean a five-story building. Of that space, 48,500 square feet would be used for police and emergency operations.

As early as 2009, Tigard officials had deemed the current public safety facility attached to City Hall to be overcrowded. A 2013 police facilities assessment stated that the current police station doesn't meet seismic survivability standards, with a similar study in 2016 showing that Tigard City Hall itself could take several months to repair and reoccupy in the event of a major earthquake.

Tigard Chief Kathy McAlpine told council members on Feb. 18 that police quarters are tight and the police parking lot needs to be secure. She said it's important to have a decent police facility as law enforcement agencies compete to hire officers.

"It's hard to recruit when we show them our facilities," McAlpine said.

Built in the mid-1980s, Tigard City Hall, the police department and the permit center are housed in a complex consisting of 36,600 square feet at 13125 S.W. Hall Blvd. The permit center is located in the space formerly used as the city's library.

Toby LaFrance, the city's finance director, told councilors every month that construction is delayed on a new facility will add to the cost.

"I am supportive of the overall concept," said Mayor Jason Snider, who said he thinks any request for a tax increase tied to the proposal would put the measure at a risk.

Councilor John Goodhouse said he likes both the fact there would be no tax increase and that public services would remain close to the downtown area of Tigard.

The city is at the beginning of looking at the all-in-one-plus concept, and no decisions can be made during work sessions. Wine later said the issue of restructuring bonds could return to the council in March, with a feasibility study likely to be completed in the fall.