Mountain View looks to trim down cost of $210M public safety building

Mountain View is taking steps to close a massive funding shortfall for a new public safety building after the cost shot up to $210 million, an amount that far exceeds what the city budgeted for it.

In a 6-0-1 vote, the City Council approved a recommendation on Tuesday evening to revise the project scope by reducing the size of the parking garage and shooting range and implementing it in phases. The public art budget also will be scaled back.

Council member Alison Hicks abstained from the vote at the Dec. 17 meeting.

For more than a decade, Mountain View has been looking to build a new public safety facility at 1000 Villa St. that would house the police department, fire administration and other municipal operations.

The plans finally came together last year when the City Council approved an early blueprint for a new facility. At the time, it was projected to cost about $165 million. But six months later, the price climbed to $200 million after the city added more square footage to the main building as well as a shooting range. Now the price tag has spiked to $210 million, and the city is looking to rein in the costs.

The current design features a 75,000 square foot public safety building, which will remain the same under the proposed changes, but some peripherals will be scaled back. The city plans to reduce the parking garage from four levels to three, and to trim down the number of lanes in the shooting range to eight or 10.

It also plans to build the shooting range as a “cold shell,” phasing the construction so that the roof and exterior will be built first, followed by interior work at a later, unspecified time. Until then, the range would be non-operational.

The combined savings would bring down the project cost to $189 million, closing the funding gap to about $28.5 million, according to the council report. The city has identified about $160.5 million in available funding for the project, leaving a shortfall even after scaling back the scope.

“From a financing perspective, we think we’re definitely within the realm of reason and that there will be ways to close the gap,” said Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews at the Dec. 17 meeting.

Community members were much less optimistic, with nearly a dozen letters and public comments expressing strong opposition to the size and scope of the project. Several advocated for the removal of the shooting range and the K9 training area, saying that they were not needed or a typical feature of most police departments.