Council considers Broadway police station

Crying ‘whoa,’ city councilmembers Joanne Sanders, Aug Sebastiani, and Ken Brown delayed, at council’s March 7 meeting, the planned award of a $4 million contract to rebuild the Sonoma police station and city council chambers located at 177 First St. West. The three councilmembers felt that maybe the plan wasn’t such a good idea, after all.
The concept has been around for almost a decade, before any of the present members of council had been elected, and it has kept various councils busy during that time. The police vacated the premises at 177 First St. West several months ago in anticipation of major construction work this year. But many in Sonoma have appreciated the higher visibility of the police at their temporary location (the old fire station on Broadway, one block south of the Plaza), as well as the better access that site provides. The old fire station is owned by the city’s community development agency, or CDA.
The council had been expected to award a construction contract to fix up council chambers at 177 First St. West at the meeting to low bidder S.W. Allen Construction Inc. from Sacramento, and then to award a construction management contract to the Santa Rosa firm Winzler and Kelly for construction management.
That didn’t happen, though. Mayor Pro Tem Sanders said, “I don’t want to be the one holding up the project. But she expressed her opinion that, “These CDA (redevelopment) funds could be put to a better use – like to decrease blight, or to increase the tax base.”
Councilman Steve Barbose was ready to move forward, noting, “Prices are constantly going up and if we don’t take this bid – well, we may have waited too long.” By his estimate, costs would escalate by about $20,000 every month that construction is delayed. Construction was anticipated to begin later this month and to be completed by the end of May 2008.
But Sebastiani suggested, “We need to step back – take a breather – and then a good sobering look at this before we spend $4 million.”
Mayor Stanley Cohen wondered, “If we delay – are we going to start all over again? How far are we going to go to keep making changes? I think we should go forward.”
Brown sided with Sebastiani, saying, “I want to take a breather so that we can think about this project some more. Maybe we could have a study session or plan group – but definitely not lose the bid.” The bid from S.W. Allen is good until mid-May, so the council has some time to review the history of the project and, in a recurring phrase from the evening, to “explore possibilities.”