PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, Va. — Residents got their first look Thursday night at a new public safety complex planned for mid county.
A new 50,000 square-feet, 2-story police station, and a 15,000-square-feet fire station that, will sit at the corner of Prince William Parkway and Davis Ford Road near the Prince William County Government Center. It’s expected to cost nearly $40 million to build both structures. Officials said it’s very early in the design phase of the new buildings, and added they are expected to be completed by 2016.
“People who live on Davis Ford Road, and all over the county, are very interested in their quality of life and keeping their community nice and green and looking as it does today,” said Midco Civic Association President Martin Jeter.
This will be the third police station Prince William County has constructed, in addition to stations on U.S. 1 in Woodbridge on Freedom Center Boulevard near Manassas. The growing police force will move officers and staff from divisions such as patrol, criminal investigations, and special operations to the new facility. The office of the Chief of Police would remain at the nearby county government center, said Chief Staphan M. Hudson.
The fire station will include four apparatus bays to house more equipment– up from the usual three at other stations in the county, officials said. It will help improve emergency response times in Dale City, Lake Ridge, and along Davis Ford Road, which range between four and eight minutes for the department.
This also marks the first time the county government has constructed a fire station, a task normally revered for the volunteer companies that staff the stations on nights, weekends, and holidays. It’s unknown which volunteer company will be asked to occupy this new fire station, said Prince William County Fire and Rescue Department Chief Kevin McGee.
The new station is expected to average 1,000 calls for service per year, said McGee.
A total of three entrances and exits are expected to be constructed to the property – a right in / right out turn from Prince William Parkway, and two entrances / exit points on Davis Ford Road. A second public meeting on the public safety complex is scheduled to take place Dec. 12 at the Buckhall Fire Hall on Yates Ford Road near Manassas.
Mosley Architects Vice President Jay Moore, who represents the firm that is designing both buildings, says an archeological study of the property on which the buildings sits is “on a checklist of many items” that need to be looked at. So far, a study of the site has not been conducted.
