County Acquiring Gonzalez Property For Possible Public Safety Training Facility

July 22, 2019

Escambia County is acquiring a piece of property in Gonzalez that a commissioner says is crucial in plans for a new public safety training facility.

The county has 14.5 acres near Old Chemstrand Road and 90 & 9 Ranch Road, the site of the now-closed Escambia Charter School. The property had no frontage on Chemstrand Road.

The 0.67 acres being acquired in the 1600 block of Old Chemstrand Road will provide better access to the former charter school site with 500 feet of Old Chemstrand frontage. The 0.67 acres is being purchased for $25,000 from Hussein S. and Anne B. Sharaway.

“I do anticipate and support going forward with the public safety training facility being put on this property,” said Commissioner Steven Barry.

The county is working on evicting a cell phone tower  that is on about two acres of the former school property, as well as moving four modular buildings to other areas. A couple of buildings may remain that will be demolished.

“Then we can start to talk about how to put the public safety training facility on that property that we already own,” Barry said.

The Escambia County Commission has not yet taken any formal action to construct the public safety training facility.  The Escambia Charter School closed after 22 years at the end of the 2017-2018 school year due to declining enrollment.

Pictured above: This map shows property being acquired by Escambia County to provide better access to current county property. Pictured below: The county is working to evict this cell phone tower from their current acreage. Images for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.

Comments

5 Responses to “County Acquiring Gonzalez Property For Possible Public Safety Training Facility”

  1. H mm on July 23rd, 2019 4:15 pm

    Wasn’t this planned for the property off 29 by dc and behind the now defunct Jim Walters homes?.

  2. Me on July 22nd, 2019 4:59 pm

    Will evicting (removal) of this cell phone tower have a negative effect on our local cell phone service (coverage)?

  3. Bob C. on July 22nd, 2019 4:41 pm

    Question from looking at the map, Is the area, marked to the left, in a triangle shape where the cell tower is located ?
    If so, would the tower be removed if, when, the county “evicts” the tower?

    Joining in with others posting here:
    WHAT will be “trained” here?
    WHY is this, in a densely populated area, the preferred property?
    WHO will be performing the “training”?
    WHEN will all of this begin?

    BoCC has a LOT of property scattered throughout the county that is Not on the tax rolls.

  4. Jsson on July 22nd, 2019 2:32 pm

    First of all, wow 25k for not even an acre! No change of use hearing from the county? They do that for every other type of property. Seems like a very populated area for a training facility…… Would be nice to know what they are training for.

  5. Craig on July 22nd, 2019 10:27 am

    I’d like more information on the extent of what this facility train. This is an area with substantial population and heavy traffic from Acend.

    At least these students won’t play hooky in my woods…maybe?

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News