Lathrop Plans To Construct A New Multi-Million Dollar Police Station
LATHROP (CBS13) — A new state-of-the-art police station is on its way to the City of Lathrop and right in time, as the community is experiencing growing pains.
The project has been in the works for more than a year and this week residents had a chance to take a first look at the facility that will be located in the River Islands Development in the Lathrop area.
The new multi-million dollar police station will be built just west of the San Joaquin River bridge. Lathrop city leaders have been putting new development in place as they prepare for significant growth.
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"We are supposed to double the population by 2020 upwards of 40,000 people," said Minnie Cotton Diallo, who lives in Lathrop.
Lathrop has already built about 1,000 new homes with more on the horizon. The city is also planning to relocate its police department to the River Islands Development inside a new $9 million facility.
"They do a great job in keeping us safe and with the influx of new people moving in here it will be great to be able, for them, to have a state-of-the-art facility as well as hopefully be able to hire new officers," she said.
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The current police station is located in a strip mall along Seventh Street. The police have been renting space in an old building for almost two decades. Lathrop's city manager Stephen Salvatore says there is just no more room to grow.
"The building that we are currently in is aging and rather than put money into it, we can advance our development obligations from some over our major developers to advance the funds to construct the new facility," said Salvatore.
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The new police station includes a community room with enough space for police units such as investigations and patrol. There will be police briefing rooms and a small area for booking and temporary holding. The city will pay close to $2 million while the River Islands Development will cover most of the cost.
"Basically they are cash flowing the project. It is an obligation of River Islands as well as it is all new development to fund the police station," he said.
City leaders say they are working through the design aspects of the project and have not identified the start date for construction.