The Sedona Police Department will soon receive a bit of a facelift, one that many have said is long overdue. 

The Sedona City Council recently approved a design contract in the amount of $231,785 to Gabor Lorant Architects Inc. 

The project will consist of two phases — improve­ments and expansion of the women’s locker room and the second being an overall face-lift of the building. To minimize renovation expenses, space that is already considered adequate should attempt to remain. The project may require an expansion of square footage through additions to the existing structure. 

SPD Chief Charles Husted said he and his staff have been involved in the remodel discussion process from the outset and appreciate the cooperation between his department and others. 

“Some functions at Sedona Police Department have outgrown our current facility,” Husted said. “For example, as we strive to further diversify our work­force through the hiring of additional female officers, our women’s locker room is in need of expansion.” 

Husted added that the remodel also affords the department the opportunity to be intentionally consid­erate of their staff’s mental health needs by creating a quiet space area that can also be used as a lactation room should the need arise. 

“Additionally, the intense snow events from earlier in the year revealed that we need to improve our emergency operations center capacity, which requires added infrastruc­ture in our existing station footprint,” he said.

A staff report states that the City Hall plaza was originally a standard office complex, and was not designed to accom­modate a future police station. The Police depart­ment has made the retrofit space work, despite lacking in several key amenities. The current police station is approxi­mately 5,900 square feet and the garage is approxi­mately 8,700 square feet.

Over the years, there have been many altera­tions, additions, and improvements to the police station facility. Improvements include the underground garage, ADA holding cells and ramp, the armory, gym, and K-9 area, and shifting offices/meeting space walls around.

The report goes on to state that even with these improvements there are still many issues that cannot be addressed within the existing space. Some of the issues with the facility are:

• Lacking safety and security features that a traditional police station should be equipped with.
• There are no vacant offices to allow for staff growth, and meeting spaces are undersized.
• The evidence area has outgrown its space.
• The women’s locker room is undersized.
• Workflow regarding holding cells is not adequate.

Part of the redesign, as of now, includes connecting the police department building with that of the courts. Currently there is a walkway between the two. The courts shares a building with the city clerk’s office and council/court chambers. The design phase of moving the court office and cham­bers to an adjoining prop­erty to city hall, which was purchased three years ago, is currently underway. 

This expansion of the police department will provide additional space for offices or conference rooms. City Engineer Andy Dickey has said the court’s office space could be used as a tempo­rary home to police administrators during the construction phase. In addition, the entryway to the police department will be extended outward.

In 2016 a needs assess­ment of the current police department was conducted. It found several deficiencies, primarily based upon the configuration of the building. 

Dickey said that while they’ll be using parts of the 2016 study, refine­ments have been made since then, primarily to stay within the budget.

“The existing facility was not originally conceived to house a police station,” the assessment states. “The building was originally constructed as an office complex that was sold to the city of Sedona prior to completion of construc­tion. Some changes were made to the SPD building to accommodate some police functions such as the addition of holding cells and underground parking, but the overall facility construction was not planned or built to accommodate the unique needs and use of a public safety institution. 

“While the department has done an excellent job working within the resources they have, due to the expansion of the SPD staff, the current facility is inadequate to serve the intended purpose.”