By Vanessa Dabovich
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/krwg/local-krwg-996915.mp3
Las Cruces, NM – Public safety has been a strong point of discussion and top for the city council in recent months. The council was recently updated on the status of a proposed public safety facility on the East Mesa. The facility would be the site for fire station and a police command substation as well as the Mesilla Valley Regional Dispatch Authority or MRVDA.
The proposed 350 acre site is currently on Bureau of Land Management property just north of Sonoma Ranch Boulevard.
Facilities Management Administrator Eric Martin says the site will be multifunctional.
Martin-"It allows us to plan ahead, addresses public safety out on the east mesa and with the arterial plan and proposed developments that parcel would pretty much be centrally located in the future. It's rare sometimes that these parcels become available in that size and that's certainly something we would like to look at."
A tentative timeline calls for the design of the complex to be completed in a year with a cost of around one million dollars. The fire station would cost four million dollars to build and the substation seven million. All are scheduled to be completed between 2013 and 2017.