City Council to Consider Study on New Police Station : Simi Valley: If it is approved, the city would pay consultant up to $35,000 for work on replacing existing facility. Quake caused $200,000 in damage.

Lacking both the money to pay for a new Simi Valley police station and a place to build it, the City Council today will decide whether to pay for a study to replace quarters whose deterioration was hastened by the Jan. 17 earthquake.

If approved, the city would pay a consultant up to $35,000 to scrutinize funding and site possibilities, and assemble a budget for the project.

Funding for the study would come from the city’s Community Development Agency.

“All I can say is it’s about time,” Councilwoman Barbara Williamson said. “The sooner we get this thing going, the sooner we’ll have a station we can be proud of.”

A report released by the city in mid-February said the station could be replaced within four years at a cost of up to $11.3 million, if the city could find the money to pay for it.

That estimate does not include the cost of buying land if the city decided to build the station on property it does not already own.

Detective Gene Hostetler welcomed the plan. “Right now, the station is still functioning,” he said. “But we’ve had some damage and who’s to say what would happen if we had another earthquake.”

The department’s existing headquarters on Cochran Street was designed as temporary structures, built in three stages between 1968 and 1973. They were remodeled for the Police Department in the 1980s at a cost to the city of $1.21 million.

The quake caused about $200,000 in damage. A floor sank six inches, walls split at their seams, ceiling tiles crashed to the floor and broken water lines flooded the locker room.

Repairs to the station, which the city hopes to pay for out of Federal Emergency Management Agency funds, are under way and should be completed by late spring.

But city officials agree that the repairs are merely a temporary fix.

The city report pointed out that the department would soon outgrow its quarters. In 10 years, the report said, the department will need up to 43,500 square feet of working space, nearly twice the area of the station on Cochran.

“We’re at the point where we need to start planning for the next station,” Councilwoman Judy Mikels said. “And this time, we’re going to build it for the long run.”

If the plan is approved, the city would ask consulting companies to submit proposals for the project, and the council would select a firm at its April 11 meeting.

Working with a team of police officers and city officials, the firm would have until January to complete its report, the first of a five-phase construction plan outlined by the city.

The city would then decide whether to conduct an environmental review and hire a construction manager.

If a suitable site is found and the money is assembled to pay for it, the city could have a new police station by late 1997.