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Council briefed on Patrol West project delay and added costs tied to new building code
Summary
Staff explained schedule changes on the Patrol West police project after ARPA funds were removed, multiple design iterations that ruled out on-site equipment storage, and an estimated additional funding request that includes about $300,000 for upgrades tied to the 2024 International Building Code.
City staff described why the Patrol West police substation design and schedule changed after anticipated ARPA funds were removed from the project. Gary Jansen (identified in the transcript) told the council the project had been accelerated last year to meet ARPA encumbrance deadlines; when that funding was removed, staff took more time to refine the design and to incorporate lessons learned from the recently occupied East Police Substation.
Jansen said staff explored on-site equipment storage options but multiple iterations showed the storage building could not be made to fit, prompting design changes. He also told the council that the 2024 International Building Code (IBC), which took effect Jan. 1, introduced more stringent requirements for public-safety buildings — including larger structural members, storm-shelter ventilation, and carbon monoxide monitoring for HVAC systems — which increased estimated costs.
Staff told the council the architect estimated an increase of "additional half $1,000,000," with $300,000 attributed to design enhancements required by the new building code and the remainder for staffing costs and contingencies. "Our estimate with the architect is is likely a cost not to exceed $300,000 as a result of the new code requirements," Jansen said when discussing the code-driven portion of the request.
Council and staff clarified whether a waiver of new-code requirements had been possible: the architect asked whether code requirements could be waived if a deadline was met, and Speaker 3 said Chris Labrum with MABCD had indicated conditional permission if the deadline had been met; that deadline was not met and staff favored upgrading to the new standards rather than relying on a waiver.
Next steps: staff presented the funding request to the council and signaled it would appear on the upcoming agenda for formal action; the council asked staff to provide the breakdown of the requested increase and to confirm the specific items tied to the new IBC requirements.
