Second Life Cheney Police Proposing To Turn Ex-Funeral Home Into Headquarters

Thu., Sept. 21, 2000

By Carlos Acevedo carlosa@spokesman.com

The city of Cheney has bought a former funeral parlor that officials expect will make a comfortable, and not at all creepy, home for their police department.

“I ran it by the police officers, and they’re fine with it,” said Police Chief Greg Lopes, laughing.

City officials purchased the former Ball and Dodd Funeral Home at Third and G Street for $210,000, with an eye on getting taxpayers to fund a remodel.

Police need a new station because the current one is cramped, Lopes said. A larger facility would make officers more productive.

Under a study commissioned by the city in 1997, a citizens committee determined that the 10-man police department required about 5,500 square feet to do its job effectively and probably would need 6,700 square feet in the future.

The current facility, located at City Hall, crams a dispatch, offices, car garage, locker room, evidence locker and prisoner cells into 1,400 square feet.

Zeck Butler Architects has developed two options for how to upgrade and remodel the 5,016-square-foot funeral building to make it police department material.

One option would cost an estimated $500,000, which would cover considerable remodeling and separate locker rooms for men and women police officers.

The other option is estimated to cost about $320,000 and includes the bare minimum.

Lopes said that of the two options, he is in favor of the second because it allows the most flexibility for the least cost.

“Although it may be that we will settle on a combination of both,” he said.

Before any decisions are made, however, officials want the public’s comments on the project. A final draft plan will be submitted to Cheney’s public safety committee.

The public is invited to visit the police station for a tour during business hours, Lopes said. An open house is being planned for early October.

If the project is approved, the city will then ask voters to pay for the remodel through a bond or levy on a ballot sometime next year, Lopes said.

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