Space study recommends $30 million Sheriff's Office facility

Palm Coast Observer
News

A space study conducted for the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office by the Center for Public Safety recommends more than $30.4 million in construction for an FCSO facility — more than the county is prepared to spend. The county hopes to scale back those proposals.

How much space does the sheriff need?

The Center for Public Safety presented the county with six options — denoted Option A1 and A2, Option B1 and B2 and Option C1 and C2 — for future Sheriff's Office facilities.

Option A: $35.6 million total, including technology systems and site development. This option would include a 81,336-square-foot Sheriff’s Administration and Operations Facility built on a 5-acre site for $325 per square foot.
Option A2, for $32.4 million, would leave the Real Time Crime Center as shell space, which could be developed later.

Option B would be $34.5 million and would involve facility reductions to 78,869 square feet, with reduced storage.
Option B2 would leave some of the space as undeveloped shell space, and would cost $32.5 million.

Option C would be $31.7 million with a 72,298 square foot building.
Option C2, which would eliminate the Real Time Crime Center and leave more space as undeveloped shell space, would cost $30.4 million.

“It is a study that projects out for 25-year growth; it exceeds what we believe was our capability, but we are going to work to reconcile this,” County Administrator Jerry Cameron told county commissioners at an Oct. 21 County Commission meeting.

The Center for Public Safety used site visits and the results of a questionnaire circulated to the sheriff’s command staff, plus interviews with command staff, to determine space needs, according to its cover letter to the county.

The study determined that the sheriff would need 76,765 square feet in 2020, plus another 4,828 square feet to meet additional space demands for future years, and that it would need 81,593 square feet by 2030.

The Center for Public Safety, in its 146-page report, presented the county with six options, ranging from $30.4 million to $35.6 million.

Meanwhile, Flagler County is also seeking remedies through insurance for damage to a building it had purchased for the Sheriff’s use. The structure, formerly a Sears on Palm Coast Parkway, was shown to have water intrusion and mold issues after purchase, and has been sitting vacant since county staff discovered the damage.

The county had also purchased a former bank building off Old Kings Road for use by the Sheriff’s Office, but later determined that the building was not ideal for that particular use.

“We have gone out one time to offer it on the market; we were not pleased with the offer that we got,” Cameron said. “They anticipate going out on the market again in the immediate future, in the next week or so.”

As to the Sheriff’s Operations Center on State Road 100, which has been vacant since it was evacuated in June 2018 due to mold, the county is still awaiting expert reports on its condition from private firm Terracon and from the CDC, County Attorney Al Hadeed said at the Oct. 21 meeting.