Oviedo to move forward with Public Safety Building annex

The ongoing saga of a new public safety/police building finally has a directive to move forward.

Following two years of failed votes to pass tens of millions of dollars in additional money for a brand-new public safety building, the city has decided to move forward with a project that may be able to be done with the $11.4 million in bonds voters approved in 2016 and other already-available money.

Oviedo Police Chief Dale Coleman said during the City Council’s Feb. 24 work session that he is in favor of building a 10,000-square-foot annex.

”It gives us a blank slate to design a building, design everything inside of it and the needs that we need,” he said. 

With the annex, the existing public safety building, which serves as the city’s police headquarters, would stay in use. A new roof on the building was completed last week, and other work on it could be done over time as needed.

”We’re obviously moving in the right direction,” Coleman said. “I think it will give us enough of our needs for the foreseeable future, that we’ll be fine”

Council agreed on moving forward with the annex and pulling the 2016 funds to do so. 

City manager Bryan Cobb said he hopes to bring updated annex concepts back to the Council in the next month or so.

”That will definitely work for me,” Coleman said. “It’s nice to see something come to fruition, or start the progress, and start the planning stage.”

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