Front Royal breaks ground on $10.3 million police headquarters

Look at that dirt fly – at center mayoral grandson wins the groundbreaking toss. Courtesy Photos/Town of Front Royal

At 2 p.m. Wednesday, November 1, Front Royal broke ground for a new police headquarters.  The site on Kendrick Lane is across the street from the old Avtex site and the western end of the planned 150-acre Royal Phoenix Business Park.

The $10.3 million project will result in a two-building, 21,000 square foot facility designed to accommodate town law enforcement needs as many as 40 years into the future.  FRPD is currently housed – for the most part – in 7,236 s.f. at the old Warren County Sheriff’s Office on Jackson Street behind the Warren County Courthouse.  However, the department which moved out of its old 4,032 s.f. headquarters in late 2013 has already outgrown that space.  The Criminal Investigations Division occupies space in the old Comcast/Finance Department building across the street from the old Town Hall.

The project is being financed through a 20-year bond issue, hopefully with discounts provided by qualifications for the New Market Tax Credit Program.

According to the Town Finance Department, past real estate tax hikes of 2.16 cents and future hikes of a half cent over a five-year period (2019-2023) and a third of a penny in 2024, will provide the revenue to pay for the project.  Combined those tax hikes will provide $525,000 of annual revenue to payment of the 20-year bond issue for the project. The Town’s current real estate tax rate is 13 cents per $100 of value.

Eventually they’ll have a parking lot to go with the new headquarters.