The Sarnia Police Services Board (SPSB) is interested in building a new police headquarters on 15 acres of land in the area of the Western Sarnia-Lambton Research Park.
The board has submitted an expression of interest for the procurement of city-owned land for the development of a new police facility.
SPSB Chair Paul Wiersma said construction of a new building has been approved in principle.
"We're moving forward," Wiersma said. "We're using funds from our budget. We had $500,000 allocated to start the process of acquiring an architect to develop a high level design, as well as we're working with the city staff now to allocate land for the new facility."
He said the pros and cons have been looked at for a number of city sites already.
"We decided that perhaps a property at the end of Wellington Street East, either on the North or South side, would work best for the needs of the police service," Wiersma said.
Veteran's Field, the 402 Business Park -- on the north side of London Line -- and land at the airport were identified as other possible sites.
While separate entities, Wiersma thinks there could be "some synergy" having the police headquarters located near a new Lambton EMS headquarters, but it's not a necessity.
Lambton County Council approved over $10 million for construction of the EMS headquarters in March.
"We're quite flexible in terms of, as long as its 15 acres, then we can pretty much operate anywhere within the City of Sarnia. Some of the other sites we found probably wouldn't be as strong contenders. So, that's why we're looking at Wellington Street East," Wiersma said.
He said the land would accommodate parking for a growing operation, providing sufficient space for the training facility, a modern rifle range, prisoner custody, and secure areas and access.
"We are currently renting property adjacent to the Sarnia Police Headquarters for parking. As well, staff are parking on city streets. We want to make sure that there's adequate parking for staff, but also for visitors," said Wiersma.
Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley, who served as the former SPSB Chair, said a deep dive into the request and strong community engagement is needed.
"There needs to be a very robust, open, public process with the community," Bradley said. "One, about the need for a new police station and two, about the land, and have this referred to budget."
"We have a number of very pressing concerns right now," Bradley said. "One related to the [Pat] Stapleton Arena, its safety moving forward and the need to either replace it or upgrade it substantially even though we have put a lot of money into it. Council has [also] approved a number of master plans, and that includes Norm Perry [Park] and Germain [Park] and elsewhere. So, there's a lot of pressing needs right now... plus we're running a deficit."
Bradley said the implementation of tariffs imposed by United States President Donald Trump must also be considered.
"There have been some job losses in the community, I'm not at the liberty at this point to describe them, from tariffs. I've told [city] council and county council before that we may have to go in and reopen our budgets later this year because of the impact of tariffs on Sarnia and the Canadian economy," Bradley said.
Meanwhile, Wiersma said whether they're about to construct a new headquarters in the next year or two, or funding is delayed for a few years, at some point land will be needed for a new facility and it's good planning to ensure the land is appropriately allocated.
The City of Sarnia's Chief Administrative Officer, Chris Carter, has recommended council receive the request for information on April 29, and invite a representative from Sarnia police to speak to the matter at a future meeting.