Combined Public Safety Facility Planned in Minnesota

Nov. 07--Plans for a public-safety training facility in Cottage Grove have blown up.

The building is now planned to be roughly twice as big as first proposed, cost twice as much, and receive more use because a new partner is in the mix -- Inver Hills Community College.

"We would be getting a big bang for the buck," said Cottage Grove Police Capt. Greg Rinzel, one of the advocates for the new center.

It even has a new name -- the HERO Center, which stands for Health and Emergency Response Occupations.

The city will ask the state Legislature to include funds for the project in the 2014 bonding bill. That would mean the state would pay some of the estimated $20 million cost, and Cottage Grove, the college and possible other partners would pay the rest.

The new plan calls for a building of 60,000 square feet to 70,000 square feet -- roughly as big as Cottage Grove's new city hall and public safety building.

The HERO Center would be built next to that building on nine acres. If it's included in the state bonding bill, construction might begin in 2016.

The partnership with the college is a recent innovation, said Cottage Grove Police Chief Craig Woolery. The college would use the building to train students hoping to become police officers and emergency medical technicians.

Woolery estimated that 75 percent of the building's use would be from the college and 25 percent from police officers and firefighters.

He believes it would be the first such facility in the state to be shared by a college and public safety departments.

"It's a multidiscipline training facility," Woolery said.

Included would be an indoor firing range, meeting areas and classrooms, and simulators for training ambulance drivers.

Supporters say the facility is needed because there is nothing similar nearby that has available hours for training.

Funding for such bonding projects usually is a 50-50 split between the state and cities. But Woolery said because the proposal will also meet the needs of a state college, the funding ratio might change.

Cottage Grove is seeking more partners for the project, such as nearby cities. When plans were first announced, it was described as a shared Cottage Grove-Woodbury facility. But the Woodbury City Council in July delayed giving formal endorsement, saying it wanted more information.

"We can't continue to work in silos," Woolery said. "A shared facility makes sense."

Bob Shaw can be reached at 651-228-5433. Follow him at twitter.com/BshawPP.

Copyright 2013 - Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.