Fresno County to spend $2.5 million on land for new Sheriff's substation

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- The Fresno County Sheriff's Department has been renting a building on Shields near Clovis Avenue for 30 years to house a substation.

Undersheriff Steve Wilkins is now looking forward to moving to a new building about a mile away, "Our current substation is pretty cramped; it is not very big. (The new substation) is a much bigger building. We will be able to put more units out there."

The new site is located just off Clovis Avenue and Highway 180.

Brian Burton of the Public Works Department briefed the County Supervisors on its advantages, "The property will have the ability to accommodate additional office space for staff, vehicles, public meeting space and modern facilities for the Sheriff's Department."

The Supervisors quickly approved the 2.5 million dollar purchase.

Deputies and detectives in the substation will cover all the unincorporated areas, including county islands in the metropolitan area.

"That will serve area 2, what we call our metro area, basically from Kern Canal to American to the North County line to Chateau Fresno, basically all the area around the cities of Fresno and Clovis."

The sale is subject to final approval.

The construction of the building will be put out to bid by the first of the year and ground is expected to be broken next summer.

The substation will be the first tenant in the business park and the first part of a long-promised city center for the Fancher Creek development which is supposed also include stores, restaurants and a movie theatre.

The deal approved by the supervisors was only for the land. The county has set aside an additional 16 million dollars for construction of the substation.