Co-Located Dispatch Facility

The County of San Luis Obispo is in the process of delivery of a new Co-Located Dispatch Facility for operation by County Sheriff and County/Cal-Fire staff. The new facility will be located adjacent to the existing Sheriff sub-station off Main Street in Templeton and will play an important role in the County’s ongoing ability to provide emergency services to the region. When complete, the new facility will replace two antiquated and overcrowded dispatch centers with an efficient, state-of-the- art facility that will be able to meet Cal Fire/SLO County and Sheriff Dispatch's growing and emergency service response needs into the future.

Figure 1 below shows a conceptual layout of the Co-Located Dispatch Facility Site Plan.

 

Figure 1: Conceptual Site Plan (click to enlarge)

Figure 2: Proposed view of the facility from the street

Key Project Features and Benefits

  • Faster and better coordinated 911 and emergency response for a safer community
  • Better able to manage and communicate with emergency personnel during major fire events, earthquakes, flooding or other natural disasters
  • Co-locating dispatching services saves on operational and maintenance costs in lieu of two separate 24-hour facilities for Fire and Law Enforcement
  • Ability to add dispatching capacity and staff as service levels grow

Project Background

The Co-Located Dispatch Facility is the second Design-Build project at the County Operations Center approved by the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors. Design-Build will allow a single contract to be awarded for the design, engineering, permitting and construction of the project with a goal of providing the best value for the County.

Currently operations for Cal Fire and the Sheriff dispatching are housed in separate geographical locations. Both existing facilities do not meet basic standards for housing 10-hour duty shifts nor do they meet current Compliance with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) workspace functions. The project is a 24-hour operational facility. The facility will be built to California Essential Services requirements and will require secure access.

The planned facility will have a high level of technical integration and communications technology. The project is a joint coordinated effort managed by SLO County Public Works with involvement by Sheriff’s Office, San Luis Obispo County Fire/CAL FIRE, County IT and Communications, Office of Emergency Services and Administration.

Project Update

Construction Schedule

  • Notice to Proceed Issued: September 20, 2022
  • Contract Schedule Total # of Days: 798 calendar days
  • Start of Construction: Fall 2023
  • Planned Completion: Fall/Summer 2025

 

Upcoming Work

  • Rough grading in the building and tower areas
  • South retaining wall retaining wall formwork, reinforcing steel and concrete placement
  • Underground utilities rough-in at building and tower areas
  • Secure parking rough grading and fine grading 
  • Secure parking curb formwork and concrete placement
  • Secure parking utility rough-in

 

Construction Photos

Excavation of site

 

Retaining wall footings

 

Retaining wall

 

Contract Award and Design Development

The project received approval at the Board Agenda on August 23rd, 2022 to augment and provide financing for completion of the project, award a contract to the top-ranked Design-Build Team, and adopt the Final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the Project.

The County awarded a Design-Build Contract to Diani Building Corp. for the project. The County is working with Diani and IBI Group and their extended team of consultants to complete the design and permit packages. Construction is expected to commence in the Summer of 2023 and be complete towards the end of 2024. After installing the communications equipment, furniture, testing and cutover of 911 function, the facility will be ready for full dispatch and emergency services operations in the Spring of 2025.

 

CEQA

On September 8, 2020, the County completed an Initial Study and determined that an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) would be prepared to evaluate the potential for significant effects on aesthetics. The Initial Study (IS) and Notice of Preparation (NOP) of an EIR are available here.  The 30-day comment period on the IS/NOP ended October 15, 2020.

The County prepared a Draft EIR that was published for a 45-day public comment period from August 26, 2021, to October 11, 2021. The Draft EIR is available here. Written comments on the Draft EIR have been addressed in the Final EIR available here.

The list of references in the Final EIR is available here.

The Board of Supervisors certified the FEIR on August 23, 2022. The Notice of Determination is here.

Project Contacts

For questions or additional information, please contact Rob Staniec via email or phone: (805) 781-5194.

Contact Public Works via web form, email, or call us at (805) 781-5252.