Oviedo Police Building plans come into clearer view

After years of debates, failed votes and iterations, the Oviedo Police Department’s expansion into an eventual new space is finally becoming more of a reality.

The building’s initial plans, which were projected to cost between $20.4 and $35.5 million, were soundly rejected by Oviedo voters in consecutive elections, with 64% of voters saying no in 2023, and 59% voting against it in 2024.

Following the failures at the ballot box, the city decided in 2025 to move forward with a plan of renovating the existing 17,000 square-foot building next to City Hall and adding an annex building connected by a corridor.

“[The annex] gives us a blank slate to design a building, design everything inside of it and the needs that we need,” Oviedo Police Chief Dale Coleman said in 2025. 

At its May 27 work session, Oviedo City Council saw a presentation of the latest plans and updates for the Public Safety Building and annex. Following meetings with the police, IT and emergency management departments, project manager and owner of JL2 Architecture Johnnie Lohrum determined that current needs required about 29,000 square feet, with future growth eventually requiring nearly 33,000 by 2045.

“The goal is to always design a facility that once you move in, you don’t want to already have outgrown it, so that’s why we look at some of those future needs,” Lohrum said. 

Despite initial plans to be 10,000 square feet, the annex is now expected to be about a 15,000-square foot, two-story brick building connected to the existing facility. It will include a multipurpose/training room, emergency operations center, IT, physical training facility, training unit offices, a K-9 space, equipment and mechanical rooms, and offices for the police chief, professional standards, community response team, criminal investigations and others. The corridor connecting the annex and existing building will include new restrooms.

Renovations for the existing building, which the department moved into in 1990, are expected to include police records offices; offices for community patrol, traffic enforcement and K-9 patrol personnel; an armory; property and evidence storage; a community involvement unit; a private interview room and other facilities.

“This is really well thought out, and 10 years in the making,” Deputy Mayor Natalie Teuchert said. 

The preliminary cost for the entire project is estimated to be about $18.2 million, of which, the city has about $17 million in potential funding, leaving a shortfall of about $1.2 million. The bulk of the funding is from $11.2 million in bonds that were originally approved in 2016. Another $2.2 million would come from the city’s general fund.

If the potential shortfall remains once renderings and planning are complete, some parts of the construction would be modified to be able to fit into the budget, Rick Mellin of ZHA Strategic Planning, the consulting firm working on the project, said. 

“At the end of the day, we’ve got a budget that we’re supposed to meet, and we’ll find a way to do that,” Mellin said.

Once all plans have been approved, permitting and bidding is expected to take two months, while the construction of the annex is anticipated to last 16 months, after which, the existing building would be renovated, and is expected to take about 8 months.

“I’m excited for it to get started,” Coleman said. “I think it’s going to be a great asset to the city.”

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