Government Operations Center Planned In Eastern Manatee County

MANATEE COUNTY, FL — Manatee County commissioners authorized the purchase of 161 acres in East Manatee for a new government operations center at Tuesday’s Board of County Commissioners meeting. The $32.5 million acquisition will be funded using $16.8 million from the county’s reserves and $15.7 million from the Utility Department, the county said in a news release.

The planned center will serve the Manatee's fastest-growing areas, Parrish and Lakewood Ranch. The land is located at the southeast corner of State Road 64 and Lena Road, adjacent to the county’s existing Lena Road Landfill and the Southeast Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant.

The purchase will improve infrastructure maintenance efficiency to a community that is growing by 10,000 people a year and adds miles of roads, pipes, traffic signals and other supporting infrastructure annually, according to the release.

Currently, the county’s field crews travel from two facilities in Southwestern Manatee, one near G.T. Bray Park and the other near the Tropicana plant to serve the entire 800-square-mile county. While new, infrastructure in communities like Lakewood Ranch and Parrish still require maintenance. It becomes less efficient to serve these high-growth areas from facilities in Bradenton.

The 161 acres will eventually house the county’s Public Works Department, utilities field infrastructure and fleet support services. A district operations center, fleet service and other support facilities for the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office will also be built on the site.

"This concept is a shared, centrally located county government complex to improve efficiency of services in the central/eastern portion of the county," said County Administrator Cheri Coryea. "What we present today is something that can gain multiple efficiencies on one master-planned parcel of land."

Coryea said the county explored 20 sites for the MCSO facility alone, but no others matched the county’s needs as well as the 161-acre parcel, which the county will purchase over the next 60 days. Purchasing the property allows the county to prolong the useful life of the landfill by six additional years, which adds a $75 million-value in landfill air space to the existing landfill. It's also located close to I-75 and SR 64, centrally located for law enforcement and county maintenance crews that are currently headquartered in western and southern areas of the county.

The new government operations center is part of the recommendations made in the years-long "How Will We Grow?" project that asked the public how the county government should keep pace with the community’s needs. At Tuesday's meeting, Deputy County Administrator John Osborne said Manatee’s population will top 500,000 over the next 20 years.

"There's a lot more pressure today on infrastructure support services such as water, sewer, EMS, drainage and stormwater, transportation and the field crews to efficiently serve the community," Osborne said. "These high-growth areas in east Manatee are experiencing more and more service requests."

One of the site’s first uses will be for a new law enforcement fleet maintenance facility, allowing the MCSO to move out of and liquidate cramped quarters off Florida Boulevard in Southwest Manatee, the news release said. The MCSO will also replace their district office currently located near the Cracker Barrel off SR 64 and I-75.

The Utilities Department will use the property to build a field operations facility for water distribution, meter readers, wastewater collection, and underground locator crews, equipment and materials storage, and a warehouse. The department may also place an enclosed solid waste transfer station in the southeastern area of the property, to facilitate the future closing of the Lena Road Landfill.

An EMS Station may also be located at this site if determined to be a future need.

"This is a win, win, win from a cost perspective, from a community impact perspective and county workers’ perspective," said Commissioner Reggie Bellamy.