Occoquan Supervisor Michael May is hosting a meeting tonight to discuss the upcoming Central District Police Station and Bacon Race Fire Station projects in Prince William County.
“Both of these projects are projects we’ve tried to fund for a number of years. As the community has grown, 43% in 10 years, obviously the demands on infrastructure have increased,” said May.
The two projects have already been a part of the Capital Improvement Plan for Prince William County. The fire station, which is set to cost $11.2 million, will be paid for out of the county levy funds. The police station, set to cost $28.6 million, is being paid for from the county’s general fund.
According to May, the fact that the county’s two current police stations are on opposite ends is not the most efficient setup for public safety.
“The [current] police station essentially operates as a central district police station, out of the eastern district station…There are a lot of jurisdictions of our size, which have as many as 4 stations,” May said, continuing, “…if every [police officer] has to go and check in at the far end of the county, and then spread out to their beats – that’s not an efficient way to spread out your public safety resources.”
When the stations are complete, officers will be able to check into the centralized station and then go out to their beats in the community.
“It doesn’t directly affect response times, [but] I think having that central station there…does help improve public safety response overall,” May commented.
May stated that the additional fire station was also needed, given the growth of the county, to ensure firefighters and medics can get to incidents quickly.
“With an increase in the population, you want to have those kinds of facilities spread out [across the county], to get to incidents more efficiently,” May said.
May said that the purpose of the meeting is to get feedback from the community about features and things residents want to see, to help the facilities blend in with the community.
“The purpose of these meetings are – these buildings are coming in, and they’re coming into our community. We want to hear from you on how you feel about where we’re looking at placing them, the architectural renderings, to make sure they complement the neighborhood.”
The county owns a parcel at the corner of Davis Ford Road and Prince William Parkway and intends to build both facilities on the site.
The construction of the police station and fire station are slated to begin this fall, and will be completed within the next two years, May said.
