A master plan for a new training facility for the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office — at a cost of $1.65 million over the next few years — was approved by the Board of Commissioners at its June 11 regular meeting.
The site is about 200 acres that includes the former Links golf course, off Ga. Highway 54 east of Fayetteville and near the proposed bypass.
About $300,000 in funding for the project is in the current budget, along with $625,000 in the FY2016 budget and $725,000 in the FY2017 budget.
The master plan was presented initially at the board retreat in April. It includes renovating the former privately owned Links golf course clubhouse into a training center, live-shoot house, shooting range and training/driving course. The county recreation department has a passive park with frisbee golf and walking trails in a future phase, and the public works department will have a storage building.
It will be many months or even a year before any shooting or driving is done there, County Manager Steve Rapson said just after the board meeting, because there is a great deal of work to be done to the grounds before installing those components.
There have already been two exercises on the property with weapons to measure the potential effects of noise on the neighboring residents. Both of those had favorable results, according to Rapson.
More than a dozen members of Sheriff Barry Babb’s department were in attendance as he made his case for approval of the facility, which he said was important for the future of the county.
Babb asked how a public safety agency should prepare for or prevent situations such as those which occurred recently in Baltimore or Ferguson, Mo. He then answered his own question.
“You train and you train hard. Pinnacle training is how you move forward. This facility would be a statement of a commitment to that training.”
Babb stressed the importance of his staff knowing “proper, legal and constitutionally sound tactics” when doing their jobs.
A lot of asset forfeiture money that comes into the sheriff’s office is used to send officers out for training, Babb said, much more than the state of Georgia requires.
“A law enforcement officer is four times as likely to be in a traffic accident as a normal citizen,” he said. “That and firearms are our two biggest liabilities, but no one is doing driver training.”
He expects that the driver training course here will be one of only a handful in the entire state, possibly the only one aside from the federal facility in Glynco and the state facility in Forsyth.
Babb spoke directly to the Links area residents at the meeting, saying, “My promise to you is to be a good neighbor.”
He and other county officials have already met with a sound engineering expert at Georgia Tech who will likely be retained to help design a firing range that will funnel sound in a different direction to make it as safe and quiet as possible.
Babb also pointed out that the shooting range would not be used every day simply because of the cost involved, although it will be shared with the county’s other law enforcement agencies such as the Marshal’s office and the police departments in Fayetteville, Peachtree City and Tyrone.
“The people of Fayette County deserve this facility,” he said in closing his remarks.
One citizen spoke in strong support, saying that he just completed the citizens academy hosted by Babb’s department and saw its “level of training and commitment.” He said training is a key component to avoiding Ferguson or Baltimore situations, and officers and citizens alike want to see improved communication between each other. “It would be a risk not to support this facility,” he said.
Two residents of the area surrounding the property spoke briefly, asking for consideration of their concerns about the facility being “in our backyard.”
Rapson pointed out that it would be several months before the facility became operational and he wanted the entire plan presented so there would be no misunderstanding down the road about what is proposed and how much it costs. “We’re trying to be very transparent on what we want and put the price tag out there for full disclosure,” he said.
One citizen asked about the possibility of renting out the driving course and Rapson said priority would be given to Fayette County agencies, although there have been talks with Pinewood Studios about its needs for such facilities.
Commissioner Pota Coston, who was a federal law enforcement officer for 29 years, echoed Babb’s comments about how critical it is for officers to get proper training. “This opportunity is tremendous,” she said. “We need to be proactive and stay well-equipped and up to date.”
Commissioner David Barlow praised Babb’s efforts, saying that the sheriff has taken his department to another level during his tenure. A facility like this would help him recruit the finest officer candidates in the state, he added.
Commissioner Randy Ognio, who made the motion to approve the master plan, said he was concerned about the needs of the neighbors and the county will work to keep the noise contained, although he added that they will benefit from having more law enforcement vehicles in and out of the area regularly.
“Property values are a concern no matter where you are,” he said. “But this facility will benefit the county, and the sheriff is doing an excellent job.”
Chairman Charles Oddo said that spending this amount of money was not necessarily comfortable but there comes a point where one must ask if you can afford not to.
The motion passed 4-0, as Commissioner Steve Brown was absent from the meeting.
