Palmetto officials battle over location of new police station. The discussion was heated.

Palmetto officials will leave it up to the public on whether one-third of an acre distance between proposed sites is worth spending, at the least, an additional $1.5 million for a new police station.

The two sites being recommended by Architectural Design Group, the consultants tasked with recommending locations and estimating costs, include 8.7 acres where the old Palmetto Elementary School used to be in the heart of downtown.

The city is expected to close on the property this week after negotiating a sale for $1.4 million with the Manatee County School District and is the top recommendation.

The second location is comprised of less than an acre at 404 10th St. W. near the packing houses surrounded by migrant housing and considered to be a high crime area. The consultants said a minimum of 2.4 acres is needed, and preferably closer to 4 acres when including parking and landscape buffers.

To make the 10th Street West property work, the city would need to purchase surrounding properties and it would barely be enough room, but it’s the site being pushed by Commissioner Harold Smith. Construction costs would go from $8.26 million at the old school site to $9.8 million or up to $10.1 million to build vertically on the smaller site.

The additional costs do not include the estimated purchase price of nearby properties, which city officials suspect would skyrocket in price when property owners discover the city needs their land. Nor does it include the potential costly and time-consuming eminent domain process should property owners not want to sell.

It also doesn’t take into account the cost for demolition as opposed to the old school site that essentially is development ready.

In a contentious Monday night special meeting, Smith stood largely by himself in favor of the 10th Street West property. Smith insisted that building the police station on his preferred site would reduce crime in the area, but got push back from other commissioners, as well as law enforcement.

“None of us has a crystal ball on how a building is going to change crime stats,” Palmetto Police Chief Scott Tyler said. “Studies show different things. This is the only area of the city where we have police officers patrolling 24/7 and officers can respond much more quickly from patrol than from the police station no matter where it is.”

Tyler said that constant police presence has led to crime stats dropping steadily in the 10th Street area, “at a slightly higher rate than the rest of the city. In fact we see crime from that area shifting to other parts of the city.”

Smith said he was “disappointed” in how the chief responded and wanted a yes or no answer to his primary question regarding whether a police station in a high-crime area reduces crime. Tyler said he could not provide a definitive answer.

“We are talking about a third of a mile,” Commissioner Brian Willams said. “I don’t see how that would make a difference. Besides the additional costs to do what you want, we are looking at at least a year, probably longer and I don’t know if the current department can stay in there much longer. The other site is somewhere we could probably start construction on by the end of the year.”

Public comment was overwhelmingly in favor of the old school site for both economic and timetable reasons given the dilapidated conditions of the existing police station. Kim Corbett, Palmetto Police Chaplain, summed it up.

“The police need it and deserve it,” she said. “Right now they have a crap facility. I want it to be done financially smart and to me it’s a no-brainer to choose the larger site. I just want to see it get done.”

Palmetto Police Capt. Lorenzo Waiters, a 40-year law enforcement veteran in Manatee County, had his own argument against Smith’s insistence a building alone would make a difference.

“I’ll tell you from experience, it takes more than a building to reduce crime,” Waiters said during a spirited back and forth with Smith. “On the building it just says police department. It’s the people in it, it’s us, the men and women who reduce crime. You are giving the people false hope when you say a building is going to reduce crime.”

Commissioner Tambra Varnadore suggested moving the matter to a future meeting to garner more public input. The commission agreed and no action was taken.