Discover Venice 2021-2022

Staff Report T he Venice Police Department moved out of a 1990s-era building in September 2020 and into a brand-new, hurricane- hardened facility. The city's Public Works department, however, had been working out of a 1950s-era facility that included a non-air-conditioned barn with picnic tables and bare concrete fl oors. Public Works sta members were eager to renovate the old VPD building and make it their own. The original 18,000-square-foot building opened in 1990 as a police station and jail annex, with many security features typical of a public safety facility that the city worked to remove. Several walls were knocked down to open up the different spaces and the internal City sta converts old police station into new public works building 'A well-oiled door lock systems were removed to ensure the entire building was accessible for staff. The refurbishment project took around seven months to complete, a coordinated effort between in-house city staff and project construction manager JE Charlotte Construction Corp, opening in May 2021. Total project cost was $750,000. Due to budget constraints, Public Works staff performed much of the construction work themselves. This included demolition, landscaping, asphalt repair, cleaning the building, painting the interior, building custom furniture, upgrading the lights to LEDs and many more tasks. This in-house work added approximately $200,000 of value to the project. The city sought to improve the energy efficiency of the building by converting most of the lighting to LED panels. Part of the building was taken out of HVAC climate control in order to convert it to a carpentry workshop with additional sign storage. An outdoor air system was added that injects MACHINE' The city has a new fi re department on Venice island. PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE CITY OF VENICE The former police department on Ridgewood Avenue is the new home of the public works department. DISCOVER VENICE 2021-2022 12

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