1. Cost. We simply do not know how much it will cost to retrofit the West Venture building. We know the cost that the developer is willing to sell the building for but we do not know the cost of retrofitting the building to meet Essential Services Act standards. We also do not know the cost of purchasing other buildings to meet space and parking needs. We also do not fully know yet how much this cost is in relation to a new building.
2. Size. The West Venture building is 61,000 sq. ft. The Police Facility Review Committee found that the police should have 67,000 sq. ft. and 10,200 sq. ft. and an indoor firing range in order to meet their needs well into the future. The RFP states that the building should be expandable to 67,500 sq. ft., have area for future outbuildings and that the site should have about 6 acres of useable space. That means, the building may not meet their needs and we'll end up in the same situation that they are in now in the future.
3. Parking. There are 47 covered parking units under the building. About 170 more might be leased from the parking structure that is shared with Shasta Regional Medical Center. The RFP states that there should be a minimum of 240 parking spaces to be expanded to 330. The owners of a new medical office to be built blocks away from West Venture stated in an April 15, 2009 Record Searchlight article that they did not feel that the West Venture building had enough parking to fit their needs and thus decided to built their own building. This building will be about 30,000 sq. ft.
http://www.redding.com/news/2009/apr/15/new-medical-complex-slated-for-downtown-redding/
4. Impact to SRMC and health care jobs. In a September 1, 2008 article the Record Searchlight listed some of the top jobs in Redding as reported by the EDD. Registered nurse listed as a top job. With a police station potentially just a few hundred feet from the hospital. Police (and those in custody of the police) and patients sharing the parking structure one wonders how this will effect the business and image of the hospital. Also, since the building, parking and lot are undersized for the needs of the police department, will there be future encroachment? Limiting the potential for growth for the hospital and health care jobs is not a wise decision.
http://www.redding.com/news/2008/sep/01/edd-web-site-shows-best-job-opportunities-redding/
5. It's a medical building! This building was built to house health care professionals in an area dedicated to health care. In every cardinal direction from the West Venture building is a medical office. SRMC, Shasta Community Health Center (which is expanding), the new Shasta Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine, Redding Cancer Treatment Center, Redding Physicians Building and a vision center. How does a police station fit in the middle of this?
6. Impact to nearby neighborhood. The Garden Tract neighborhood sits a few hundred feet from the West Venture building. Many homes on Garden Avenue can see the building. A police station is a 24 hour facility that processes criminals. This is a not a desirable situation for the residents of the neighborhood nor can it be for the nearby Sequoia School and hospital. The traffic in the Garden Tract during community events at Sequoia and Convention Center area can be very crowded. The police station would certainly increase these demands. Noise from those events, Highway 44 and hospital helicopters would be met by the potential noise created by a 24 hour facility like a police station. We Garden Tract residents understand that they live in an urban neighborhood but stress that enough is enough. I also question the impact to our neighborhood image with a police station so nearby.
