Forest Grove voters will once again decide the fate of a new police station this fall, as the city places a $29.5 million general obligation bond on the November 3 ballot, just over a year after a nearly identical measure narrowly failed at the polls. Measure 34-353 would fund a replacement for the department's cramped, nearly 50-year-old headquarters on Pacific Avenue.
The Forest Grove City Council voted in March 2026 to refer the measure to voters, according to the City of Forest Grove. It marks the city's second attempt at funding the project after Measure 34-343, a $29.5 million bond with nearly the same price tag, was defeated in May 2025 when 52.3% of voters cast ballots against it amid just 21.9% voter turnout, as reported by the Forest Grove News-Times.
Police Chief Dave Marzilli, who took over leadership of the department this year after 28 years with the Washington County Sheriff's Office rising from deputy to commander across patrol, investigations, and jail operations, laid out the case for the new facility in a recent video posted by Forest Grove Police on Facebook. In it, Marzilli explains the need for a new police facility and what the proposed bond would fund, walking residents through the department's current constraints.
A Station Built for 12, Now Serving 42
The current police station at 2102 Pacific Avenue was built in 1977 to house just 12 officers. Today, the department has 42 personnel, including 36 sworn officers and six non-sworn staff, according to the City of Forest Grove's Police Facility Bond page. That growth has pushed the aging building well past its original design capacity.
A 2016 Building Needs Assessment identified 34 major structural and operational deficiencies in the existing station, the city's bond page notes. Among the most notable: the department lacks climate-controlled evidence storage, forcing evidence to be kept offsite in non-climate-controlled facilities.
Why Retrofitting Isn't on the Table
City officials have ruled out simply renovating the current building. Oregon Structural Specialty Code regulations classify police stations as Risk Category III or IV essential facilities, which mandate strict seismic resilience and emergency safety standards. Those requirements make retrofitting an existing structure more expensive than building new, per the city's bond materials.
The proposed project would replace the current 12,120-square-foot station with a new two-story, 21,500-square-foot facility, a nearly 77% increase in space intended to accommodate police operations and department growth for the next 40 years. The city already owns the proposed site at the corner of 19th Avenue and Birch Street, having purchased the property in 2018 specifically to preserve central emergency response times and keep the department close to other municipal services.
What It Would Cost Homeowners
If approved, the bond would cost property owners $0.69 per $1,000 of assessed value, which works out to roughly $16 per month, or about $193 per year, for an average Forest Grove homeowner over a 20-year term, according to the city's estimates cited by Citizen Portal. That price tag will again be central to the debate, given how close the 2025 vote came to passing.
The push for a larger facility comes as Forest Grove itself keeps growing. The city's population reached an estimated 27,470 residents in 2026, a 5.4% increase since the 2020 Census, adding to the demand on local public safety services that department leaders say the current building simply wasn't designed to handle.
With Measure 34-353 headed to voters on November 3, the outcome will determine whether Forest Grove finally replaces a station built for a department a third its current size, or whether the project returns to the drawing board for a third time.
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