Lubbock Police recieved another green light in their public safety project. City council gave their approval for the project’s construction manager at risk, on Tuesday. Now, they can move forward with their plan to break ground on their substations by summer.
Neal Barron, the assistant police chief said their next step is to complete and get approval by city council for the buildings’ architectural designs and budget.
“We’ve got the basic schematics done by the architects, and they still need to be refined a little bit. That process shouldn’t take too long. The interior layout is pretty much done, but so is the exterior design, so we are well on our way,” said Barron.
This process should take about a month, according to Barron. Then the contracting company can begin planning the construction for the summer. However, they have not decided on property for the North substation.
“We have been very fortunate to not purchase land, we already owned the land for the east substation and the land for the south substation was donated to us,” said Barron.
The east substation will begin construction first, followed by the south and finally, north substation. The buildings should take approximately a year to a year and a half to construct, said Barron.
While the substations do need to be staffed, Barron said, nonetheless, the department is already hiring new officers every year to keep up with the continued growth of the city.
“As the city grows, both geographically and in number of citizens, we need to branch out and grow with the neighborhoods and the areas of the city,” said Barron.
