To the editor:

It has been less than six months in the planning of the new police station, and already we have our first potential price increase for this project. While it has been de rigueur for any self-respecting government agency, even developer, to “build green” for the better part of a decade, apparently this was not thought of in the renovation plan for the Harrison Medical Center.

Now we learn that this building, for which the city overpaid in the estimation of their appraisers and that came with an $11 million conversion cost, will require an additional $800,000 to meet LEED Gold.

Councilmembers will of course vote for this, as it is the right thing to do, but the extra cost is adding insult to injury for the taxpayers. This $20 million project, or rather now $20.8 million project, will likely continue to balloon, as more “surprises” surface.

And none of these will of course change the fact that the building is poorly located and the project far more than necessary for the city police force and court system to function adequately.

ANTHONY GIBBONS

Bainbridge Island