Pembroke Pines explores funding options to replace ‘obsolete’ public safety complex

Pembroke Pines commissioners have unanimously agreed to move forward with presenting information for a proposed public safety complex to residents at upcoming town hall meetings, while delaying a decision on whether to place a bond proposal before voters in November.

The May 26 special meeting came ahead of nine scheduled town hall meetings where residents will also hear information about two proposed charter questions moving through the city’s ordinance process.

City staff and commissioners spent much of the five-hour meeting weighing the long-discussed need for a new police-fire public safety complex, comprised of new police headquarters and a replacement for fire station 69.

Commissioners spoke to concerns over affordability and uncertainty surrounding property taxes.

“The new public safety complex has been part of the city’s work plan for well over a decade,” Mayor Angelo Castillo said. “We are now at the point where we have to make this decision.”

Castillo described the city’s police and fire facilities as technologically outdated, too small and unable to meet the growing needs of the city.

“I am convinced that ... building a new public safety complex is required to uphold the health, safety and welfare of the city,” Castillo said. “The facility is obsolete. ... We have outgrown it and it is getting in the way of [police and fire departments] being able to do a better job. ... They are recommending this get done and I agree.”

The complex was part of a $230 million bond that failed when placed before voters in 2024.

Rodney McManus, senior vice president and director of operations for Architects Design Group, presented preliminary plans for the proposed complex after spending the past year working with police, fire and city staff.

The proposal includes a two-story fire station, a five-story police building and a five-level parking garage.

McManus said the design team also planned for city growth, creating projections for current needs, 15-year needs and 30-year needs.

Estimated construction costs for the public safety complex and fire station 69 replacement totaled about $113 million in “hard costs,” with total estimated development costs reaching roughly $155 million once “soft costs” were included.

Relocation costs are not included in the estimate, McManus said.

Commissioners questioned McManus about the buildings’ sustainability standards, parking, future expansion and construction assumptions, with Maria Rodriguez honing in on the importance of emergency preparedness and hurricane-resistant facilities.

“To a certain extent, we can’t put a price on safety,” Rodriguez said. “The safety that comes with a hurricane-rated building is essential to what our residents are going to need in the future.”

Vice Mayor Michael Hernandez agreed the city needs the complex, but said he was not ready to support moving toward funding through a bond.

Hernandez pointed to rising living costs, utility increases with Florida Power & Light and uncertainty surrounding potential statewide property tax changes.

“Property tax reform has still not been proposed in the state legislature, we still don’t know what that’s going to look like for the future of the city’s finances,” Hernandez said. “We’re also sitting here right now in an affordability crisis.”

The day after the city’s special meeting, Gov. Ron DeSantis unveiled a property tax proposal for the November ballot that would raise the homestead exemption to $250,000 and require lawmakers to pursue broader property taxes reductions, according to the Miami Herald.

City Manager Charles F. Dodge recommended limiting any future general obligation bond request tied to the project to no more than $80 million, saying the city could potentially cover remaining costs through funding sources that were unavailable during the last failed bond effort.

The commission unanimously approved the first resolution on the agenda, supporting the need and construction of the public safety complex itself.

However, commissioners unanimously voted to defer the second item that would have authorized up to $155 million in general obligation bonds tied to the project.

Instead, city officials said the upcoming town hall meetings will present residents with multiple possible financing options, along with information on the two charter questions commissioners already agreed to place on the ballot: moving municipal elections from March to November and changing the requirement for appointing or removing the city manager or acting city manager from a supermajority vote to a majority vote.

Public meetings started Thursday, May 28, and are scheduled to run through Thursday, June 11.