Sarasota County Commission issues public safety building contract

The Sarasota County Commission awarded Architects Design Group LLC of Winter Park a $1.14 million design contract for a public safety building and a new Emergency Operations Center.

Architects Design Group will produce a master plan for the site at the corner of Cattlemen Road and Bahia Vista Street and design the building. The proposed facility will serve as the permanent home for the county's emergency 911-call center. It will also serve as temporary offices for multiple county and municipal departments and agencies during emergency or weather events.

The Emergency Operations and 911 centers are now headquartered in the Sarasota County Administration Center on Ringling Boulevard. But that building, in downtown Sarasota, is built to withstand only a Category-2 hurricane, while the new EOC would be hardened for a Category-5 storm.

The project will receive partial funding from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Other funds will be provided through a $1.3 million interfund loan from the county's general fund to its capital improvements fund.

Construction is scheduled to begin in the summer of 2012, with completion expected in 2013.