At this week's Community Services and Land Use Committee meeting, committee members held an Executive Session and decided to move forward with negotiations regarding the purchase of land known locally as the Cooler tract--for the County's proposed consolidated law enforcement center.

Currently owned by the Cooler family, the purchase of the roughly 97 acres of land by the County for law enforcement purposes, would leave a proud family legacy as they share four generations of family members who have dedicated their lives to law enforcement and emergency response services. 

"This facility has been envisioned for almost two decades," said Eric Greenway, County Administrator. "When the land became available, the County saw this as a great opportunity to consolidate the County Sheriff's departments in a central location that can be built with minimal environmental and traffic impact."

The committee's decision moves the discussion of negotiations forward allowing the County to continue their due diligence when making any large land purchase, while developing a conceptual site plan creating a facility that will bring many law enforcement departments under one roof. Departments at this point include the DNA lab, County Sheriff's Administration, the evidence locker, and Emergency Management. When completed, it's estimated to house more than 250 employees in almost 200,000 square feet of office space.

"This is an outstanding opportunity for County Council to do what is necessary to keep the quality of life that we enjoy in this County," said Council Chairman Joe Passiment. "What residents need to know is this plan will also spare the property from being developed for housing in an already extremely congested area. It will satisfy the needs of all of our citizens for the quickest response to public safety from law enforcement. It also satisfies the desire of the Greenspace program to control development where possible and will allow the consolidation of many law enforcement departments into one location. That, in turn, will better serve residents and free up additional facilities to be used by the County for other purposes."

The timeline moving forward on this project is as follows:

• February 27: County Council meeting-First Reading
• March 13: County Council meeting-Second Reading and Public Hearing
• March 27: County Council meeting-Third and Final Reading and Public Hearing

"I am excited to hear the recent news and wanted to thank County Council for their foresight in choosing to move forward with the purchase of the tract of land located in Beaufort County, on Hwy 170, commonly known as,  “Cooler’s Corner”, said Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner. "It may interest you to know that this property was considered more than 20 years ago, as an excellent and prime location, to build a Sheriff’s Office Law Enforcement Headquarters and public safety training facility."

Sheriff Tanner continued: "The land is conveniently situated in the center of Beaufort County, and we believe this area offers easy and efficient deployment of resources and personnel and is convenient and accessible to our other law enforcement partners throughout Beaufort County, and the public we serve. Moreover, and equally important, is the fact that this area has excellent law enforcement radio communications tower coverage."