SIMI VALLEY : New Police Station Could Cost $11.3 Million

Simi Valley’s cramped, aging, earthquake-damaged police headquarters could be replaced with a new building within four years at a cost of up to $11.3 million if money can be found to pay for it, according to a report released Monday by the city manager’s office.

The damage to the Cochran Street headquarters in the Jan. 17 earthquake can be repaired economically, City Manager M. Lin Koester wrote in the report. But the damage also “emphasizes the need to examine alternatives for a new police facility.”

The two buildings now used by Simi Valley police--built in 1968 and 1971, with additions made in 1973--were intended only as temporary buildings and were not built to present-day standards, Koester said Monday in an interview.

They would not last the 30 to 50 years that a modern structure would last, and some components are aging even faster, he reported. The heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system, for instance, is not expected to be economical to run for more than another four to five years, he said.

Koester’s report recommends that the city review the Police Department’s space needs, identify potential sites for a new headquarters and review methods of paying for construction.

If begun in March, paid for, approved and built every step of the way without a hitch, a new headquarters could be ready to occupy by January, 1998, the report said.

In the meantime, the city is making extensive repairs to the existing headquarters, including jacking it up about six inches to the elevation it was before the earthquake.

Repairs are expected to last about 70 days and cost about $200,000.