SPRINGDALE (KFSM) -- Building a criminal justice center is becoming a reality thanks to Springdale voters approving a bond issue at the beginning of this year.
Now, the city is in the planning stages of deciding what it will look like. It will be home to the police department, district court, and the city attorney.
The project will be done in phases with the last phase being renovating city hall.
Mayor Doug Spouse said Springdale has almost doubled in size since the current building was put up in 1995. Inside this building are police, a district court, and city hall.
“That`s why we`ve got part of our police department, our criminal investigation division, our building inspection, our IT, our code enforcement...Those are all outside of the current city hall right now and the current police station because there is no longer any room,” Sprouse said.
The new center will be built just north of the current one which will be torn down once the new one is complete.
The Springdale Police Department is currently in three different buildings but once the first phase of the new criminal justice center is complete, they will all be able to be under the same roof in a more than 60,000 square foot building.
Captain Derek Hudson said they will have a state-of-the-art booking and processing facility along with a couple of jail cells.
“That is primarily because Washington County is located in the south part of the county, so it`s quite of a drive from Springdale depending on where you are. So this will give us the ability to still bring people to our facility where we are going to book them in and then book them right back out quickly or have someone who can come get them,” he said.
Hudson said the ultimate goal is to all be connected.
“When you come down spring street you will have one central entrance to where you can access anything in the city. Whether you need to go get a garage sale permit, whether you need to go to court, whether you have a city council meeting or need to file a police report, everything will be in one central building,” he said.
The plan is to break ground on the criminal justice center by the spring of 2019.
They expect construction to take a year and a half.
The bond issue passed in February is also going to help fund a new animal shelter, fire stations, and road improvements.
