Building a Better Tigard 

The current police facility, built in 1984, was designed for a much smaller Tigard, when the population was about 22,000 and the police department was significantly smaller. 

Today, our city’s population is nearly 60,000, and nearly 100 police department employees share this outdated space. 

In 1994, temporary modular buildings were installed to house police staff while the City searched for a permanent solution. Nearly 30 years later, those temporary structures are still in use. Additionally, the police department is spread across several locations, with storage closets converted into makeshift offices. 

Public Works is similarly fragmented, operating out of five different sites. 

A major safety concern is that the police department currently lacks a secure parking lot, which puts officers and support staff at risk, particularly during late-night and round-the-clock shifts. 

Crime victims also face privacy challenges, as they are sometimes interviewed in the public lobby or may cross paths with suspects moving through the building. This lack of privacy can complicate the reporting and handling of sensitive cases. 

As our city continues to grow, these facilities must scale accordingly to ensure the delivery of high-quality public services, both now and in the future. 

In 2024, we acquired a property on Wall Street that could accommodate new City of Tigard facilities. The property, located at 13225 SW Wall St., is approximately 9.5 acres.

Many of the City of Tigard’s facilities – including buildings for the Police Department, Permit Center, City Hall, Public Works, and our Emergency Operations Center have functional limitations, are unsafe (including seismically unsafe), overcrowded, and too costly to taxpayers. For example, Tigard’s police and public works personnel will be first responders in the case of an earthquake, but the buildings where they are currently based do not meet state requirements for "critical and essential buildings” that can help ensure first responders can deploy right away.

Safety:

• There are concerns about how well the structures will fare in an earthquake and impacts on the ability of first responders to serve the public.

• Tigard’s emergency operations center, as well as its warming and cooling centers and summer wildfire smoke shelters, are housed in a building that does not meet current earthquake safety standards.

• Tigard’s police and public works personnel will be first responders in the case of an earthquake, but the buildings where they are currently based do not meet state requirements for "critical and essential buildings” that can help ensure first responders can deploy right away.

Overcrowding:

• The buildings were developed 30 years ago and are stretched beyond their capacity due to our community’s growth.

• For example, Tigard's police station is nearly four decades old and is so severely overcrowded that it's actively impacting our police force's ability to recruit the high quality and diverse personnel we need to keep our neighborhoods safe.

• Due to lack of space, there are instances when police officers conduct interviews of crime victims in public spaces, potentially placing suspects in the vicinity of their victims. Such a situation should be avoided if at all possible, but there are times when there is no choice due to limitations of space and facility design.

• For Public Works, the nature of their work involves larger vehicles and equipment which drives the need for adequate yard space to accommodate parking and maneuvering. The existing location has been over capacity for many years.

• Public Works also lacks sufficient building square footage for their crews, including restrooms, locker rooms and meeting space.

Costs to Taxpayers:

• Each year, Tigard must fund more operational and repair costs in its budget - funds that could be invested in community priorities like public safety, and building and maintaining city roads, parks, and sidewalks.

• For example, in the city’s Fiscal Year 2023 budget, we expect we will have to invest over $500,000 into basic maintenance, like roof repairs, for these aging facilities.

• This is an inefficient use of taxpayer dollars and not a good strategy for Tigard’s long-term fiscal health.