Newport Beach will spend about $1.5 million on a preliminary review of what a new police headquarters at the Civic Center might look like to provide the City Council and community with greater insight into the project’s feasibility and the challenges that might be encountered.
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Along with agreeing to spend $713,000 for the first phase of a conceptual architectural design, a City Council majority Tuesday night, July 28, also agreed to spend $346,000 for an environmental study and about $315,000 for a public outreach campaign that would help create FAQs and hold community town halls on information discovered as the possible project moves forward.
The total cost for the architectural design could be up to $12.4 million.
“The challenge for the City Council is there are a lot of questions,” City Manager Seimone Jurjis said.
The contract with Irvine-based LPA to move ahead with a conceptual design follows an earlier discussion in March when the City Council established an ad hoc committee including councilmembers Sara Weber, Noah Blom and Michelle Barto and community members to consider the feasibility of moving the police headquarters to the Civic Center Park, already home to City Hall, the central library and the recently opened Witte Hall.
The proposed location would use part of the popular 6-acre public green space and sculpture garden, including its often-photographed rabbit piece. City officials have said the sculptures may be able to find a new home in the upper section near the dog park.
The council has been exploring the idea of moving the police department from its current site on Santa Barbara Drive, near Fashion Island, because officials say the 1970s-era building no longer adequately serves the department’s needs and requires renovation.
In 2022, the city purchased a large commercial building on Dover Street for $30.5 million, with the goal of moving the police headquarters there, but council members and the city’s police chief have since said they believe placing headquarters near or in the Civic Center would be better for response times and overall police operations, including staffing and daily briefing meetings.
There has been significant public opposition to building at the Civic Center where the park and sculpture garden exist. On Tuesday, at least a dozen members of the public spoke in opposition to the plan that the council was considering.
They argued the city isn’t being transparent and is spending money to review a site that may not be feasible, would be too expensive, and would have too many environmental problems.
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“The ad hoc committee has only met twice (since March),” a resident said. “Seems unwise to study a parcel you might not be able to build on.”
Another resident admonished the idea of the city hiring a PR consultant to ferret out information to the public when the city staff “is competent” to do that.
“We voted in March to study this unique site,” said Councilmember Joe Stapleton, who on Tuesday supported proceeding with the conceptual design and environmental study, but opposed spending money on the PR company. “This is not a forgone conclusion. Tonight we are just executing what was done in March. It’s not expanding this and was already budgeted.”
Councilmember Robyn Grant said she believes the city is “putting the cart before the horse.”
“I’m concerned what we’re doing now is premature,” she said, adding that she is still hopeful another location not yet considered can be found.
She also said that any architectural drawings conceived now could become obsolete by the time an actual project is ready to be built, and she added that it’s premature to retain a PR firm when city staff can help with the outreach.
But Councilmember Noah Blom reminded the public that there was much discussion and debate years ago about where to build City Hall.
“We built this, so we clearly made it through something to get here,” he said. “We’re trying to look at the future of Newport Beach and find a place with fiscal responsibility and find out what we need as a community and not destroy public space. We’ve got to figure out and know what’s possible.”
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