03_DR Narrative Letter - Training
April 7, 2020
City of Meridian
Planning Department
33 East Broadway Avenue, Suite 102
Meridian, ID 83642
Re: First Responder Training Center
1327 East Watertower Street
Meridian, Idaho 83642
Architect’s Project No. 17287.000
Design Review
Dear City Planner:
The following is a project narrative for the proposed construction of a scenario training building for the
Meridian Police Department on their existing training campus located on East Watertower Street in
Meridian, Idaho.
The current Meridian Police Department campus contains various structures and elements of site
infrastructure including drives, landscaping, underground water storage, utilities, parking, and walks.
Current structures on site include the Meridian Police Headquarter Building, the K9 building, and
Meridian Public Safety Training Center.
The facility is to be built on Lot 8, Block 2 of the MURDOCH Sub No 2. The lot is currently zoned C-G,
which permits this type of use.
The project consists of a new 12,710 square foot building on the existing Meridian Police Department
campus. The new building will be a police and fire training building. There will be no fires in or around
the building used in the training scenarios. The primary purpose of the building is to provide training
scenarios that simulate real potential experiences that police and fire fighters may find in doing their
real-life duties. The training scenario exercises will be done in small groups of 5 to 25 people, under
direction of the training staff. Training of this nature is very structured and may include lighting
controls, projected images, doors designed specifically for breach training, sound/audio, fire training
smoke machines, and mannequins/human silhouette props. Within the building may be training prop
areas that look like interior spaces including apartments/housing, retail shops, a dry cleaner, generic
stores, a bank, a bar/tavern, and a storage room. These areas may include interior and exterior
entrances and some glass/polycarbonate glazing on interior and exterior. Props will include interior
stairs, closets, bedrooms, toilet rooms (nonfunctional), front doors, and other aspects which one would
expect in a house or business building. The building also includes a basement area which has 2 exterior
stairs, in different configurations, which are used in training scenarios. This building is not anticipated to
be continuously occupied. Functional components contained within the building permanently includes
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April 7, 2020
equipment storage, user restrooms, user lockers, changing areas, and a central drive aisle for vehicle
access. The project site includes paved drives and landscaping to coordinate with the existing
development.
The building’s exterior has been designed to meet current City design standards while still maintaining
the purpose of the building that has specific design requirements. The exterior design consists of
standing seam metal siding, an integral color split face CMU base, and standing seam metal roofing. The
colors shall closely match the colors of the existing Meridian Public Safety Training Center constructed in
2015.
The building will not be mechanically conditioned, therefore there will be no HVAC equipment visible to
the outside. The building is fully insulated to assist in maintaining a usable environment. There will be
exterior louvers which will allow for ventilation.
A trash enclosure is not planned for the building. The building will utilize existing trash and recycling at
the adjacent Meridian Public Safety Training Center. Verification of the existing trash enclosure from
Republic Services is included in the packet.
The existing site parking is not being expanded. There are 140 public (unsecure) parking spots and 136
secure parking spots for a total of 276 parking spots on the site. The parking required for the entire site
is 114 parking spots therefore we are in excess of the required parking public parking by 26 cars. With
140 spots there are 7 ADA spots located within the public area which exceeds the requirements. We also
need 6 bike stalls for 140 parking spots which are currently present on site.
The entire site is currently secured by an existing chain-link or picketed fencing with gate systems that
will be modified to secure the new building. Access to the new building is through the primary entrance
onto the site from East Watertower Street. The various gates and fencing located near the new building
are chain-link and are there to allow access to the training areas and are not for public use.
Please accept our application for a Certificate of Zoning Compliance. Contact us immediately if you have
any questions or require anything further.
Sincerely,
CSHQA, Inc.
John Maulin, AIA
Principal Architect