Gilroy Today 2007 07 July/Aug | Page 9

T H E B I G H O U S E T H A T G I L R O Y B U I L T

The first time you see the new Gilroy Police Station you may think that there must be a mistake because the building is so big . “ It must belong to some other BIG city , not little old Gilroy .” But , wait a minute . Let ’ s step back and get some perspective ! Gilroy is one of the fastest growing cities in Santa Clara County . Unofficial projections put the population at 50,000 and continued controlled growth is expected . So , Gilroy has gone from a sleepy little farm town to a significant and desirable residential community with a growing retail and industrial base and this is , after all , a government building . It takes years of planning and paper shuffling to build this type of facility , so what you build had better be around for a while , a long while .

With this in mind , the new Gilroy Police Station can easily be referred to as “ a station for Gilroy ’ s future ”. No one can question that the police department had outgrown the old station . The building might be a little big for now but Gilroy will grow into it , and grow into it , and grow into it . The new station is expected to serve the needs of the community for the next thirty years .
The old station at 18,000 square feet is dwarfed by the sheer size of the new station . The second floor which houses all the offices and support functions is 45,000 square feet over 58,000 square feet of parking and storage . Originally the parking area was to have been a basement below grade but that plan proved to be too expensive . The parking area also holds a new jail facility . Currently the jail only functions as a 12 hour holding jail but as needs change , it could become a Type 1 jail that could hold people short term while they await a hearing . The exterior entrance to the jail is controlled by a “ sally port .” Officers can drive in

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