Marion looking to relocate police station

Someday, Marion's police department will be located on the eastern edge of the city, across Highway 13 and adjacent to the Marion airport.

The city council has approved an agreement with businessman Wayne Engle to trade the current two-acre Katz Drive police department site for about five acres off 62nd Street and north of Gateway Road. The property already has water, sewer and electricity.

A lease/purchase plan will finance the difference in price between the two properties, City Manager Lon Pluckhahn told the city council recently.

The Engle property is valued at $560,000 while the Katz Drive land is worth $325,000. That leaves $235,000, which will be paid in part through a yearly lease that has not been established.

“The Police Department needs a larger building with more room for evidence storage, with hardened interview rooms,” Pluckhahn said. “We don't want the same problem we have now with a building too small and we can't build on. We need room to expand on the same site.”

Pluckhahn was referring to the one-story police department building at 3911 Katz Dr., which was designed for 25 officers but now houses 50, is overcrowded and leaks in bad weather.

“This building was never built for the future,” Police Chief Harry Daugherty said recently. “We want to build for 25 to 30 years out. If we need more room, we can build onto the new building. We're thinking ahead. We've learned that.”

The new building as envisioned by Wilson Estes Police Architects of Kansas City, Mo., would be triple the current 15,000 square foot structure and include room for expansion as the city grows. It could cost as much as $11 million.

Engle approached city officials about the trade, and then officials researched other plots that met the space needs and the commercial zoning requirement, including land near city hall and the library. But the Engle deal was the best value, Pluckhahn said.

“Technology makes it easier for the police department to be in a different location,” Pluckhahn said. Officers patrol the city and rarely respond to a call from headquarters.

Trading the site also ensures the Katz Drive site will end up back on the public tax rolls, Pluckhahn said.