Gwinnett approves $7M contract to build new police precinct

Gwinnett County approved Tuesday a contract for the construction of a new police precinct and 911 call center.

The new facilities will be built at 185 Ozora in the Loganville area, across the street from Bay Creek Park. They will cost just over $7 million to build, according to contract awarded to Cooper and Company General Contractors.

The money will come from 2009 and 2017 special-purpose local option sales tax revenues, officials said.

The Gwinnett County Police Department currently has five different precincts. The area covered by the new precinct is currently within the county’s East Precinct, which is based in Dacula.

The East Precinct is one of the county’s largest, in terms of coverage area.

Gwinnett's 2018 budget included funding for 36 officers for the new Bay Creek precinct, which will be more than 12,000 square feet. A 6,200-square-foot "alternate emergency call center" will be built next door.

“The alternate 911 center will be used for backup of the main emergency 911 call center in case of natural disaster, power outages or other service disruptions,” Commissioner Tommy Hunter, who represents the area, said in a news release. “Its state-of-the-art communications equipment will duplicate the main 911 call center to ease transition of staff to the alternate call center. This will ensure vital and potentially life-saving protection and emergency service for Gwinnett’s residents when they need it most.”

How long construction might take was unclear, though the term of the contract approved Tuesday by the Board of Commissioners was about 14 months.

In other Gwinnett news: