City staff recommend building new law-enforcement training academy in ITA; initial design budget estimated at $8.6M, construction ~$82.6M

LJ Hanson, director of Public Works, presented a concept-level plan and cost estimate for a new Law Enforcement Training Academy (LETA) and recommended the city site it in the Innovation and Technology Area (ITA).

Hanson said the existing SeaTac Elementary School property is leased to the city for nominal rent but is functionally undersized and not configured for contemporary adult training. Staff updated space requirements following stakeholder meetings with the police and sheriff’s offices and now estimate a program on the order of the conceptual design presented. Hanson described the concept as three programmatic zones — physical training (“body”), an honors/legacy and common area (“spirit”), and classroom/administration (“mind”) — and said staff worked to maximize shared spaces for police and sheriff users.

The presentation included a planning-level cost estimate: staff identified an estimated total construction cost of about $82,600,000 for the building envelope and core work. Hanson emphasized that the figure excludes design fees, contingency, furnishings, specialized training equipment and site development; staff estimated design-phase funding of roughly 10% of building cost (about $8,600,000) would be required to reach a budgetary design package suitable for full funding requests. Sack timelines: Hanson said design would take roughly 18 months and construction about 24–30 months, so the entire program could require on the order of five years from design start to occupancy.

On site choice, Hanson recommended the ITA because the land is city-owned and ITA planning already identifies municipal uses on that parcel (Area 6). He noted tradeoffs: locating LETA in the ITA will require additional infrastructure work (Lansdowne Phase 4 construction and related site development) but avoids displacing potential higher‑and‑better uses at the existing SeaTac site. Hanson also reported the current SeaTac lease is a five‑year arrangement and the city appears to have roughly one year remaining on the present term.

Council members asked about range needs, permitting and operational impacts. Staff said an outdoor firing range at the ITA would present permitting, noise and proximity concerns and would likely be challenging because the ITA is not remote and is near residential areas; the police department and sheriff’s office are evaluating alternative long-term range options in and outside the region. Council members also raised questions about the comparative Chesapeake project and potential multi‑jurisdictional or public‑private delivery models; staff said those options can be explored but that funding direction would need to be set before advancing a procurement model.

Hanson described a recommended next step of funding the design phase and returning to council with a full, design‑level cost estimate and procurement recommendation; staff said design funding would be subject to the annual budget process. Council signaled general agreement with placing LETA in the ITA and directed staff to include the design funding request in the upcoming budget discussions. Hanson said staff will return after council direction to refine design and cost estimates and to continue stakeholder engagement.

This briefing generated no formal vote; council provided general direction to staff to proceed with planning and to include the design request for consideration during the budget process.