Concept drawing of the future Town of Marana Police facility
In two years, a brand new building will sit opposite the Town of Marana administration building in the Marana Municipal Complex, bringing a host of new public safety services and amenities to the community.
The building, once completed, will be the result of months of public education and outreach, a community-supported half-cent sales tax increase, and years of research, planning, and development.
"The new police facility represents another step in our continuing efforts to provide unparalleled police services to our community,” said Police Chief Terry Rozema. “Appropriate detention areas will keep our community, officers, and detainees safer. Training facilities will increase our level of proficiency and effectiveness, and appropriate workspaces will greatly enhance efficiencies. This building is not simply a nice benefit for the police, it's a tremendous asset for the entire community.”
The Marana Police Department began public education and outreach in 2014, inviting the public to tour the existing facility, and learn about its shortcomings.
“The Town of Marana is growing, and with that comes challenges and opportunities,” the Marana Police Department stated in a public outreach video. “We want to meet the challenges of keeping Marana safe, and investing in a facility will be a major step toward ensuring our community’s future.”
Features highlighted in the video and the tour emphasized the need for improved training facilities, security, and space.
By June 2015, the public had a clear understanding of what the Town of Marana Police Department needed in order to accommodate the growing population, and Town Council passed a community-supported half-cent sales tax dedicated to building a future police building that would meet those needs. With a clear end goal in mind, the Town of Marana began the planning process.
The police and engineering departments worked together to select a project management firm, architect, and construction contractor through a competitive bid process in Spring 2016. Abacus, Architecton, and CORE Construction were subsequently hired, and the planning and design process began.
“It was important to have everyone on the team from the very beginning,” said Deputy Engineering Director Jennifer Christelman. “We are able to make sure our needs and the budget are consistently aligned throughout the whole process.”
The planning process began with interviewing fifteen different police stations in Arizona and identifying best practices and areas for improvement.
Attention was then turned to the Marana Police Department employees.
“We polled everyone in the department,” said Rozema. “We needed to identify our current needs and existing challenges. By having our employees involved in the design process, they were able to help Architecton understand what was best for a police station. This building will reflect all of our employees’ input.”
The new building designs reflect that input, with improved amenities to accommodate the police department’s various services, as well as the capacity to manage Marana’s anticipated population growth, and the commensurate police department growth, over the next twenty years.
Expanded training facilities
Marana Police Department will have a state of the art training facility once construction is complete, with classrooms, gym, shooting range, and virtual training room available for region-wide use.
Improved security
Police officers will soon park their vehicles in a secured parking lot, as well as provide separate holding cells for adults and minors that are secured from other parts of the police building.
Expanded storage and evidence rooms
The new storage rooms for evidence will centralize all Marana police materials, with room for growth over the next twenty years.
Brand new K-9 amenities
K-9 units will be able to take care of their dogs in the new K-9 amenities, which will offer dog kennels, a care center, tools, and indoor/outdoor areas.
Administration
Larger administrative and records rooms will be able to accommodate all police records, including a special storage space for homicide cases.
Inclusive community room and updated courtyard
The public will be able to make use of the new public building through its inclusive community room. Ideal for meeting space and ceremonies, the community room is available to all Town departments and the public for various events, classes, and functions. A removable wall feature also allows the community room to open up to the improved courtyard, which will encourage staff and the public to see this area as a center of activity.
Design for the police building will be completed in spring 2017, with construction scheduled to begin in the following summer. The building is projected to be completed by summer 2018.
