John Gaccione

Date: 12/21/2020

Subject: Public Safety Building Remodel

From: Ad Hoc Design Committee Interested in the progress of Kensington’s Public Safety Building remodel? Then you might want to check out the recent audio recordings of the Kensington Fire District meetings and view several on-line meetings.

Some folks have said the Kensington Fire District Board meetings were being run effectively and were being very productive. After watching past meetings, someone could arrive at a different conclusion. Some might say there is an overabundance of circular discussions, challenged time management and deferred decisions. And egad, a plethora of minutia wrangling!

The project has been discussed for years with little real progress made. $200K -$300K has been spent on schematic plans which may not be useable. The Fire Board prefers to blame the KPPCSD for the holdup without acknowledging their own lack of discipline and experience.

Announcing a cooling-off period for the PSB remodel may be the KFD’s best idea yet.

The District’s new general manager will start in January. Besides the PSB remodel he will have a host of other hot issues to sort out. He has already had a preview of the Board’s tendency to fixate on semantics as they struggled to approve meeting notes. Welcome aboard!

Attempting to house the police department and the fire department in a building that has a fixed footprint and meets all current building codes turns out to be a tall order. The remodel cost is currently estimated to be in the neighborhood of 7 million. Once the remodel is completed, will the next generation of fire trucks fit into the bays and clear bay doors?

The PSB is located approximately 50 feet from the Hayward fault running adjacent to Arlington Avenue. There is also recent evidence of a minor fault in the rear of the property as well. In the event of an earthquake the two departments most needed in an emergency might not be able to respond due to damage to the building and/or the roadway.

While things are cooling off, isn’t it worth investigating the possibility of separating the location of the two departments? Keep the KFD at their present location and upgrade the building. Locate the KPD away from the fault, perhaps in the Colusa Circle area recognizing it requires a suitable site and funding, both in short supply.

“If you think good design is expensive, you should look at the cost of bad design.” (Ralf Speth)

Caution: Project cooling-off period in progress, renovated remodel ahead.