Board members also approve proposal for new helicopter hangar in Venice
On recent, unanimous votes, the Sarasota County Commission directed county staff to formally include in the county’s Capital Improvement Program (CIP) two projects that Sheriff Kurt Hoffman and his team have requested: construction of a new hangar at the Venice Municipal Airport and a larger expansion of the agency’s headquarters on Cattleridge Boulevard in Sarasota.
The total estimated expense of the administrative facilities initiative is $84,790.264, including the extra $29,330,264 the sheriff has sought.
The total expected cost of the hangar project is $4,010,022, a county staff memo said.
The funding for the initiatives will come out of Law Enforcement and Justice Impact fees, plus a county borrow of funds, staff explained on Oct. 23.
During a future meeting, staff will be back with the CIP initiative details and the corresponding budget amendments, for final approval, Brad Gaubatz, manager of the county’s Capital Projects Department, told the board members.
Over the past few years, county staff has been working with the Sheriff’s Office on the plans for the headquarters expansion, as Sheriff Hoffman noted in an Aug. 16 letter to County Administrator Jonathan Lewis, which was included in the Oct. 23 commission meeting agenda packet.
Hoffman pointed out that his prior request for an estimated $24,073,875 for the project “did not include indirect costs,” a list of which he had attached, which are linked to the need for more square footage. In consulting with the Capital Projects staff, Hoffman continued, the determination had been made that it likely would cost another $5,256,389 just for the additional 27,883 square feet of new space and 23,000 square feet of renovated space.
“As a reminder,” Hoffman pointed out, “the expansion of this project will allow all included spaces to meet the 2040 requirements of the space plan. The remaining spaces that include training, forensics garage, and helipad are part of the master plan and will be addressed in a future project.”
The construction of the initial expansion phase, Hoffman added, is scheduled to begin in the 2026 fiscal year — which will begin on Oct. 1, 2025 — and end in July 2028.
He did note that county Law Enforcement and Justice Impact Fees “are a potential funding source and have a current unencumbered balance of over $17,000,000.” He added, “Impact fee revenues were established to meet the demands created by growth and new development,” in accord with the County Code.
Then Hoffman explained, “Approximately 77% of the project is expansion. With the rising costs of construction, taking a thoughtful approach to this critical capital project will save a significant amount of future tax dollars if planned correctly.”
As commissioners pointed out during their Oct. 23 discussion, a previous board agreed to purchase sufficient property on the Cattleridge Boulevard site to enable such an expansion.
“We gotta maximize the opportunity on that [land],” Commissioner Neil Rainford said. “It’s a whole campus … and a great spot.”
“With our county [population] growing,” Commissioner Mark Smith added, “we need to keep the sheriff in … buildings necessary to house the staff.”
A county staff memo also included in the Oct. 23 agenda packet explained that the current expansion project, as included in the CIP, entails up to 60,000 square feet of new construction, along with the reorganization of 27,883 square feet of new space and 23,000 square feet of renovated space.
A county PowerPoint presentation pointed out that “the total projected Sheriff’s need” for space for the headquarters complex is 205,162 square feet, by the year 2040.
Details regarding the new hangar
In an Aug. 28 letter to County Administrator Lewis about the need for the new aviation facility, Sheriff Hoffman wrote that the hangar his staff is using measures 100 feet by 70 feet; it is located at the Venice Airport (KVNC).
In addition to the service bay, he continued, the facility has nine rooms: offices, a storage area for parts, a kitchenette, a bathroom and a fitness room. “It currently houses our sole remaining Bell 407GX [helicopter] and will house our newly purchased Bell 429 upon delivery (estimated to arrive at the end of 2024).” (On March 7, 2023, the commissioners authorized the purchase of the new helicopter, at the approximate expense of $12,028,594.)
His request, Hoffman continued, was for another hangar adjacent to the existing one. It would measure 100 feet by 100 feet, and it would be used as a maintenance bay, he noted, with additional office and storage space available in it.
He listed other features, as well:
- A higher ceiling to allow for a hoist system for use in maintenance on larger aircraft.
- Additional offices to accommodate future growth of the agency in accord with population growth in the county, up to the year 2040.
- An on-site “fuel farm” that will replace the facility in use at 4531 State Road 776 in Venice, where the Sheriff’s Office Training Services Section stands.
- A larger concrete pad to allow for safer arrivals and departures of aircraft at the hangar.
- “Air-conditioned storage areas to ensure components aren’t affected by being stored in hot, humid salty air.”
In the letter, Hoffman further noted that the Sheriff’s Office has a 20-year lease for the hangar property it has been using; the lease will expire on Feb. 28, 2026. The City of Venice has given the agency the option of renewing the lease for another five years, beginning on March 1, 2026, he added.
Sheriff’s Office personnel also have been in discussions with the Venice Airport administrator, Hoffman continued, who said that a new lease for 25 to 30 years could be executed if an additional hangar were to be constructed.
Hoffman did point out that a member of his staff had reviewed hangar options in other locations, including the Charlotte County Airport and the Sarasota Bradenton International Airport. “Unfortunately,” Hoffman wrote, “existing hangars are at a high premium due to the high demand in the aviation industry.” Ultimately, he noted, the best choice appeared to be the new hangar at the Venice Airport, as that would allow the agency to maintain its operations there, which he characterized as a central county location. That plan also would alleviate the need for purchasing land elsewhere, he wrote.
The December 2022 vote
On Dec. 13, 2022, the commissioners seated at that time voted unanimously to launch the expansion project for the Sheriff’s Office’s headquarters. The board members appropriated $4,560,000 for that initiative.
A staff memo in the agenda packet for that meeting explained that the project would entail 60,000 square feet of new construction, “related reorganization of uses within the existing [70,000-square-foot] office facility and associated site work for the new facility.” The memo added, “The allocation of functions between existing and proposed buildings,” as well as the overall campus layout, will be planned to enable the Sheriff’s Office to maximize its operations and provide the greatest degree of cost efficiency.
In March 2021, Sheriff Hoffman discussed the agency’s needs with the commissioners, noting that the building located at 6010 Cattleridge Blvd., whose purchase the commissioners authorized in early 2017, already was proving too small. He reminded the commissioners that a 2016 analysis, which the county paid the Schenkel Shultz Architecture firm in Sarasota to undertake, found that — as of that time — the Sheriff’s Office needed 193,981 square feet for all of its operations.
The funding for the new projects
On Oct. 23, Shannon LaFon, the budget manager in the county’s Office of Financial Management, joined Gaubatz of Capital Projects for part of the presentation to the commissioners.
LaFon explained that the use of the Law Enforcement Impact Fees is more restrictive than the use of the Justice Impact Fees. The Law Enforcement fees can pay only for facilities and equipment related directly or indirectly to patrols. Funds can be used for land acquisition, design, and engineering, as well as construction, she pointed out, plus the purchase of furniture, fixtures and equipment, including vehicles.
The Justice Facilities Impact Fees may be used for a broader array of purposes, she continued, including “correctional facilities, court facilities, and Sheriff’s Office administrative buildings, fleet maintenance facilities and other facilities, vehicles and equipment, excluding those attributable directly or indirectly to law enforcement patrol, that provide County-wide services,” as a county slide put it.
The Law Enforcement Impact Fee, LaFon pointed out, is about one-third of the rate of the Justice Facilities Impact Fee.
The Law Enforcement Impact Fee related to construction of a single-family home in the range of 2,499 square feet would be $281, she continued; the Justice Facilities Impact Fee would be $1,009 for that house.
Showing the commissioners a slide, LaFon said, “It is important to note that while we do have impact fees for the [Sheriff’s Office headquarters expansion] project, there is an accumulation that’s necessary [for the 2025 and 2026 fiscal years] in order to be able to … afford [the extra work that Sheriff Hoffman has requested].”
A slide showed that staff expects to need $30 million in the Justice Facilities Impact Fees; $3.9 million in the Law Enforcement Impact Fees; a borrow of $25.9 million, which would be paid off by General Fund revenue, such as property taxes; and a $25-million borrow that would be repaid by the penny sales tax revenue through what is called the “Surtax 4 Program.” The latter begins on Jan. 1, 2025.
In response to a question posed by Commissioner Ron Cutsinger, Gaubatz of Capital Projects said that the borrow related to the General Fund is just under the cap set by the Sarasota County Charter.
Of the money needed for the hangar project, $3,010,022 would come out of the Justice Facilities Impact Fees, with the remaining $1 million from the Law Enforcement Impact Fees, another slide showed.
Commissioner Rainford ended up making both motions to authorize staff to proceed with the planning for the projects.
In seconding the motion regarding the hangar, Commissioner Cutsinger noted, “The Venice Airport is a perfect staging area with a lot of room …” He also pointed to the value of the Sheriff’s Office helicopters, as demonstrated in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton, when the agency’s remaining helicopter flew over Siesta and Casey keys to survey the damage.