The Waunakee Plan Commission approved a site plan for a new 9,750-square-foot addition to the village’s existing police department via a 5-0 vote at their Monday, May 10 meeting.
The approval sent the project, designed by Kueny Architects with input from Strand Associates, out to an open bidding process for interested construction companies.
The addition’s primary aim is to resolve issues regarding a lack of space within the police department’s current facility. Police Chief Adam Krietzman stated that the department has begun to run into limitations within their office, evidence storage and garage spaces.
“This is part of a building addition that we’ve been looking at for awhile. Obviously as the village grows, so does the department. We’ve run out of space in a number of different areas,” Chief Krietzman said.
Chief Krietzman also mentioned that some layout problems within the current building will also be solved as a part of the addition.
For example, the department will be moving its training room to a more accessible portion of the building so that the public will no longer have to walk through secure areas to observe exercises if they choose to.
The expansion will be added to the rear of the existing building and will wrap around it towards the corner towards the corner of Sunset Lane and N Klein Drive.
New additions include the expanded training room, a new break room, fitness room, evidence storage and processing spaces as well as a significant upgrade in heated garage space. The project’s site plan highlights four new “hot seat” stalls for patrol parking and a new public parking lot with 20 new stalls.
While the project is still going forward as planned, there was one small hang-up that Community Development Director Lauren Dietz mentioned at the May 10 meeting.
The portion of land that the police department occupies is made up of four different lots split between two zoning districts.
The commission’s May 10 approval was passed with conditions that the department will return with a Certified Survey Map combining the lots and applying for rezoning to ‘G-1 Institutional’ use. This process is relatively standard and makes the project, as well as future ones, easier to pursue.
As for the look of the addition, Kueny’s John Wallenkamp said that the design team put together a plan that matches the already existing façade of the building.
Renderings show a design incorporating red brick and white aluminum, matching the look that the building took on when the department first moved in.
Plan commission members were all in support of the project and did not have many questions for Chief Krietzman or Wallenkamp. After a presentation from the two, the commission quickly came to their unanimous vote in favor of putting the project out to bid.
“As chair of the police committee, I’ve seen numerous iterations of this and I think it’s fantastic. I can’t imagine why we wouldn’t want to move forward with it,” Plan Commissioner and Village Trustee Joe Zitzelsberger said.
Following the bidding process, the commission will be presented with the cost estimates from interested construction companies for the expansion. They will then make a recommendation to the village board for final approval.
Most Popular
Comments / 0