Groundbreaking held for new public safety facility
The Imperial County Sheriff’s and fire departments celebrated a groundbreaking on Tuesday afternoon for what will soon be the Winterhaven Public Safety Facility, which will serve as a substation for both of the agencies.
With a price tag of $3.8 million, the facility, which is expected to be completed and occupied by October, replaces the old dilapidated sheriff substation, which was built in 1954 and the temporary mobile unit that currently serves as a fire station.
Speakers at the event included Sheriff Raymond Loera, Supervisors Raymond “Ray” Castillo and John Renison, and Stella Jimenez of the office of Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia. Afterward they all joined together in symbolically sticking shovels in the dirt to mark the occasion.
“This is certainly a facility that has been a long time in coming, and needed in this community for a while now,” Sheriff Loera said. “It is going to be a combined-use facility, which is a new concept for us because we don’t have anything else like it.”
The building, a pre-engineered metal building, will be approximately 9,603 square feet and feature a community meeting room. Supervisor Castillo added that the new modern facility will help both departments better serve the residents of Imperial County.
“As chairman of the board of supervisors I have been to many events of this type, groundbreakings, dedications and ribbon cuttings,” Castillo said. “Let me assure you I never get tired of coming to these functions, with this one representing the laying of another block in the foundation of Imperial Countys public safety infrastructure.”
The facility also includes
apparatus bays for the fire department vehicles, living quarters for the firefighters and operation offices for the sheriff’s administration and deputies.
In addition to saying everything about a joint-use facility made sense, Castillo also praised the teamwork among the county departments that went into the project, and how quickly it had come together.
“It will take less than two years to complete from when we decided to move forward on the project,” Castillo said. “In any business, especially with the government, that is darn near lightening speed.”
The substation building is being funded through a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) in the amount of $1.5 million awarded to the county’s Community and Economic Development Department, $1.8 million from Fire and Sheriff Department Development Impact Fees and another $550,000 in Criminal Justice Facilities Funds.
The builder for the site, which is located at 581 Railroad Avenue, is Yuma Valley Construction Company.
Once the grant money was received the Imperial County Public Works Department began designing the building and the sheriff and fire departments began planning how to staff the facility.
Supervisor Rennison added, “this is going to be a facility we can be proud of. I appreciate everybody who made this possible.”