 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Pinellas Park to expand police station
By ANNE LINDBERG, Times Staff Writer PINELLAS PARK -- After years of planning, city officials are ready to spend millions to increase the size of the police station by one-half. The proposed 12,000-square-foot expansion is one of more than $9-million in projects to build or improve city facilities over the next few years. Others are a new train-depot-style building nearby, a new fire station, and renovations to City Hall. Once completed in late 2004, the police complex should serve the city's needs for about 11 years. At that time, Pinellas Park Mayor Bill Mischler said, the city might want to think about building a satellite substation. Plans revealed to the City Council during a workshop last week show a one-story addition immediately to the north and parallel to the existing police station, 7700 59th St. N. The existing entry will be closed and a new entry created in the new wing to provide a larger lobby and more security. Officers would have a direct entry through the parking lot. "The police building needs to be more secure," Mischler said. "If somebody drives through the communications center, we're wiped out." Architects plan to block off the wall in the communications department. They also plan to expand the area to provide more room both there and for records and create a place for training and a gym for officers, police spokesman Dan Levy said. The existing building will be refurbished to allow for expanded patrol offices and to move code enforcement to the first floor for easier accessibility to residents. When completed, the complex will be about 36,000 square feet. Architectural plans should be ready by late this year, and the project is expected to go out for bid in January, Levy said. Construction on the $4.7-million building would begin in March and be finished in December 2004. The new annex will be in a Victorian style to blend with the nearby depot-style building that's about to be built on Park Boulevard. But architect Kevin Ratigan said the "early ugly" style of the existing police station will not be redone. Instead, plans are to plant vines and other vegetation to cover the walls and help the building meld with the general area. "I'm pleased with the progress," Pinellas Park police Chief Dorene Thomas said of the proposal, which was first broached three or four years ago. The police station and the park area to its north will be among the areas designed to help draw passers-by into a "city center" that officials are creating along the railroad tracks between Park Boulevard and 78th Avenue N. Officials hope the area eventually will be dotted with small businesses and shops. The $3.6-million replica train station under construction on the former site of the Pinellas Park/Mid-County Chamber of Commerce eventually will house the chamber, the city's historical and art societies, and some city offices. The depot-style building is scheduled for completion in October 2004, about two months before the police complex is finished. The council also has set aside $259,000 to update City Hall, 5141 78th Ave. N, and allocated $700,000 to build a new fire station. The new station is expected to alleviate the large number of calls at Fire Station 33 on 83rd Avenue and Fire Station 34 on 94th Avenue. The new station also would decrease response time to residents in the southwest part of Pinellas Park's fire service area, said Bob Bray, the city's planning director. It's likely, Bray said, that the new station would be either near Bryan Dairy Road or near the Lealman area. But it's unclear now, he said, if Pinellas Park officials plan to go ahead with those plans. The council has a workshop scheduled July 30 to discuss the five-year capital improvement plan, he said, and the fire station, like all other projects, "may or may not" make it through that meeting. -- Times correspondent Sheila Mullane Estrada contributed to this report.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
From the Times South Pinellas desks Letters |
