Sheriff's Substation Is Proposed In Sterling

Plans are taking shape for a $7.9 million sheriff's substation in Sterling that would provide a base for deputies to patrol an area where residents have been shaken recently by incidents of violent crime.

Officials of the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office will present a design for the substation and respond to residents' questions at a public input session this week hosted by the sheriff's office, the Board of Supervisors and the School Board.

Sterling was the scene of a gang-related drive-by shooting in July that critically injured one man and damaged several homes. Earlier this month, a double slaying and a suicide occurred at a busy Sterling Park strip mall in a burst of violence apparently sparked by a lovers' quarrel, according to authorities.

County officials said, however, that the timing of this week's session is not related to recent concerns about rising crime. The Sterling substation is part of a long-standing plan by the Board of Supervisors to extend sheriff's facilities beyond Leesburg, and officials said they have made progress on the project because of recent consensus on a site.

The 18,000-square-foot building would be next to Rolling Ridge Elementary School. It would include workrooms for deputies, a records department for fingerprinting and background checks and several holding cells for people arrested on charges such as drunk driving.

The station would have a staff of about 75, including crime investigators, deputies and secretaries, said sheriff's office spokesman Kraig Troxell. About 16 of the employees would be new hires, with most of the others transferred from the agency's Leesburg headquarters, Troxell said.

The school system owns the property, and the School Board must vote to declare the land surplus before the project can proceed. If that occurs and the Board of Supervisors approves funding in next year's county budget, construction could begin in 2008, and the substation could open in 2009, according to the county administrator's office.

Supervisor Jim E. Clem (R-Leesburg), chairman of the board's Public Safety Committee, said the need for a sheriff's substation in fast-growing eastern Loudoun has long been apparent. But land-acquisition problems and financial hurdles got in the way, he said.

"Like anything else, you have to wait for all the pieces to come together," Clem said.

This spring, the Board of Supervisors and the School Board began discussing potential sites. After several meetings, they identified a four-acre plot that is part of the Rolling Ridge school property, said Sam C. Adamo, the school system's director of planning.

County officials thought that the site, which is served by county utilities, was suitable. And since the land was not being used, School Board officials agreed.

Adamo said the School Board wasn't worried about having a police facility next to an elementary school.