LAKE STEVENS — Police in this lakeside town soon will have a new station.
The Lake Stevens City Council has approved spending $9.4 million to buy and fix up a building on South Lake Stevens Road, now used as headquarters for Lake Stevens Fire. That agency is moving because of its recent merger with Fire District 7.
Moving the police department has been planned for a few years, Cmdr. Jeff Beazizo said.
“We are very squished,” he said. “We’ve outgrown the current department, which was very, very small.”
That space, on Grade Road, is roughly 4,000 square feet. The new facility is about 14,000 square feet, he said.
The department moved into its current building in 2005 when it had about a dozen employees. Today it employs 42. The city also has grown, from a population of about 7,500 to 33,000.
An architect is working on the redesign, and the department expects to move in sometime next summer.
The new station is expected to have upgraded technology and a holding cell, a feature the current station lacks.
Beazizo expects there to be room for investigations, evidence and training units; an IT department; and a lobby for the public to request records, receive concealed carry permits and get fingerprints taken.
“There’s going to be a whole renovation for us,” Beazizo said.
Lake Stevens police and fire are now working on a purchase agreement.
The existing city-owned police department building may be turned into the new library, Beazizo said.
Stephanie Davey: 425-339-3192; sdavey@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @stephrdavey.
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