Fate of College Avenue properties still uncertain, but design of police station proceeds

Kent City Council adjourned to executive session without discussing or voting on acquiring four properties on College Avenue as a location for a new police station at a Committee and Special Council Meeting Wednesday, Oct. 1

The properties in question are 223, 225 and 227 College Ave., owned by S.M. Poulton, Ltd., and 233 College Ave., owned by S.M. Templeton, Ltd. Plans suggest they would be merged into a new address on South Depeyster Street.

Voting on the ordinances to acquire the properties has been postponed while the language is rewritten, Ward 3 Councilman Wayne Wilson said.

During the committee meeting, Jeff Meyers of David Sommers & Associates architecture firm presented some of his firm’s progress on the design of the new Kent Police Station.

The current working design includes a three-story building along with a parking lot and below-ground cruiser parking, Meyers said.

Early into designing, it was key to make sure all of the more than 100 sections of the building were located in a way that made sense in relationship to each other, he said.

“The functionality, the way the officers use the station, is the most important thing about a police station,” Meyers said. “In a police station, it’s got to function and that’s the number one thing that’s wrong with the current station.”

The proposed location at the southeast corner of South Depeyster Street and Haymaker Parkway will have better accessibility to pedestrians than the old police station, he said. The most recent design has an opening on the ground floor to allow access to downtown for those traveling by foot.

The layout they have designed is the product of many factors, Meyers said.

“This is showing the ideal location of where the building wants to fit in response to the sun, pedestrian access, the views and College [Avenue],” he said.

The architecture team aims to design the building to be LEED-certified, Meyers said. Wilson questioned whether the certification was assumed as part of the levy to build the station.

“I accept that we are going to go ahead and pay somewhere between $100,000 and $200,000 for a plaque on the wall that says we’re LEED-certified, but I worked very hard campaigning for this levy and none of the brochures said ‘We’re going to pay a couple hundred thousand dollars for a plague on the wall,’” Meyers said.

Wilson asked that the LEED certification be paid for from the general fund. City Manager Dave Ruller said the voters gave them the power to decide whether to proceed with certification.

“There was no intent to deceive anybody,” Ruller said. “ I see where you’re coming from, but I don’t think there was any deception anywhere.”

It is still early in the 15-month design process and the next step is to make sure the current design is within the budget, Meyers said.

“There’s a lot of balls in the air with the budget, so it’s something to continually revisit,” he said.