LYNCHBURG, Va. – UPDATE
The Lynchburg City Council has approved an agreement to build a new police headquarters.
This comes after LPD leaders presented an agreement to approve the construction of a new facility on Odd Fellows Road Tuesday night.
The project will cost more than $47.5 million and include an 82,000-square foot building.
Leaders hope to break ground by the end of the year and have the project completed by the fall of 2024.
ORIGINAL STORY
Lynchburg Police Chief Ryan Zuidema says six years into the planning process, they’ve reached an agreement to design and construct a new headquarters.
LPD leaders will present the proposal to city council Tuesday night for approval.
“The hope is that council will review it and approve it, then we can start moving forward with actually putting a police building up,” said Zuidema.
The two-story building would be located on Odd Fellows Road and is projected to cost around $47.5 million.
Zuidema says the community deserves a modern facility.
“It’s going to better serve our officers, so they have good facilities to work out of, and it’s also going to better serve our community. It’s going to allow us space to invite our community in, to have functions there, and to engage with them a lot more than we can in the facilities we have right now.”
The plan with English Construction Company would consolidate the department’s current situation -- of using multiple buildings -- into an 82,000-sq. ft. building.
Around 220 total employees would work under one roof with extra office space for future growth.
“What we don’t want to do is build a brand-new facility, then the day we move into it we’re full,” said Zuidema.
Two other locations were also considered, but Zuidema says Odd Fellows Road is more of a central site with immediate access to Route 29 Business and U.S. 460.
His hope is to break ground by the end of this year.
“It’s about a two-year project, give or take. We’re projecting, if everything stays on track, to be in the building by late Summer, early Fall of 2024,” said Zuidema.