MOUNTLAKE TERRACE — Voters will decide whether to approve building a new City Hall and expand the city’s police station — a $12.5 million project that will be on the Nov. 7 general election ballot.
Plans call for adding 3,000 square feet of space to the city’s current 7,000-square-foot police station. The building is part of the city’s civic campus on 232nd Street SW. The department has 36 employees.
The police station was built in 1992, said City Manager Scott Hugill. The cost of additional space is estimated at $1.8 million.
The city now is leasing space for City Hall, with rent and utilities costing about $500,000 a year, Hugill said.
The previous City Hall was built in the early 1960s. A ceiling in the City Council chambers collapsed in 2008, exposing asbestos. Workers were relocated to rented office space in 2009 and the old City Hall was demolished, Hugill said.
“What we have now is a vacant field adjacent to the police station and the library,” he said.
That’s where the proposed new 18,000-square-foot City Hall would be built for an estimated $10.7 million.
If approved by voters, the new City Hall should last for 50 years, he said.
The city has a population of 21,000 and the building is expected to serve the city until it reaches a projected population of 26,000 in 25 years or so.
Construction on both projects would take place in 2019 and 2020.
The proposed bond levy would cost property owners 27 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation.
Approval would mean a charge of about $77 a year for the average homeowner in the city with property valued at $283,800, Hugill said.
However, typical homeowners in the city now are paying about $45 a year in taxes to rent City Hall space.
If the bond levy is approved, the city no longer would need to rent space for City Hall in 2020. The amount the average homeowner would contribute to pay off the bond would drop to about $32 a year, Hugill said.
The police and City Hall building projects would have to be approved by 60 percent of voters.
This year’s proposal for a new City Hall and addition to the police station is the fourth in a series of attempts to make those improvements. Previous efforts failed to get the 60 percent approval margin.
The first was in 2010, a $37.5 million proposal for a community center, City Hall and police station expansion.
The next was in 2012, when plans called for a smaller City Hall, as well as a community center and more space for police.
In 2013, voters were asked to approve a $25 million building project.
This year, a city committee met with voters to discuss their ideas for the project. The committee told the council to focus on the need for a police station expansion, Hugill said.
Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486; salyer@heraldnet.com.
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