Winterhaven public safety facility breaks ground
WINTERHAVEN — Public officials applauded the relatively short amount of time it took to design, approve and begin construction on a new public safety facility in Winterhaven during its groundbreaking Tuesday.
Although the $3.8 million project had encountered some delays on account of an initial budget shortfall, the project’s overall two-year timeframe distinguished it from other time-consuming development projects, said county Supervisor Ray Castillo.
“In any business, and especially in the government sector, that is a darn near lightning speed,” Castillo said.
The much anticipated project will erect a 9,600-square foot building in the 500 block of Roadrunner Avenue that will house both Imperial County Fire Department and Sheriff’s Office personnel who currently occupy temporary and outdated structures in the area, respectively.
The need for such a permanent facility was made all the more urgent following the disbandment of the Winterhaven Fire Protection District more than a year ago and the subsequent expansion of county fire services within the community and its surroundings, Castillo said.
“I never get tired of coming to these functions and chipping in to lay another block in the growing foundation in Imperial County’s public safety infrastructure,” he said.
Since 2015, a crew of four firefighters has been housed around the clock, seven days a week in a temporary modular facility that sits adjacent to the new facility’s construction site. No additional personnel are scheduled to be assigned to the area once the facility is completed.
Once completed, the new public safety facility will also provide additional training opportunities for firefighters, said interim fire Chief Alfredo Estrada Jr.
The joint facility is also expected to benefit the community by having both public safety agencies conveniently housed in one location, a first for the county.
“It actually builds good camaraderie because we work hand-inhand with them in different types of emergency scenarios,” Estrada said. “We’re always responding to calls together so it’s going to be a real positive thing.”
While the ICSO’s Sheriff’s Activities League has an office at the same facility where ICFD’s station 2 is located in Heber, that arrangement hardly reflects the proximity the two agencies’ personnel will share at the new facility, said Sheriff Ray Loera.
The ICSO’s substation in Winterhaven dates back to about the mid-1950s and had included living quarters and holding cells that are no longer being used.
The only remaining part of the substation currently in use are offices that are occupied by the station’s lieutenant and sergeant, as well as additional office space used by deputies for work and interviews.
“We kind of have been shrinking down the space to the main administrative offices,” Loera said.
During his remarks to those gathered for the groundbreaking ceremony, Loera said it was an honor to be at the helm at a time when the agency had just completed the construction of a new jail facility in El Centro as well as undertaken the construction of a joint public safety facility in Winterhaven.
The current project is expected to be completed by October 2018 and was partly made possible by a $1.5 million Community Development Block Grant from the California Department of Housing and Community Development in December 2016.
In addition to the CDBG, the county Board of Supervisors authorized $1.8 million from the county’s public safety development impact fees and approximately $550,000 in Criminal Justice Facilities Funds to complete the project, said county Community and Economic Development Manager Esperanza Colio Warren.
On Tuesday, the pending project’s success to date was also hailed as a prime example of the capability of the county’s various departments to work together toward a common goal.
“This was not one person doing this job,” said county Chief Executive Officer Tony Rouhotas Jr., “this was dozens of people coming together as a county agency to make this happen.”