SLO County’s largest unincorporated area could get $11 million Sheriff’s Office station

The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office may get a substation in Nipomo after all.

On March 7, the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to direct county staff to add the cost of designing a Nipomo substation to 2023-24 budget discussions.

With a population of about 18,176, Nipomo is growing in size.

If approved, the Dana Reserve housing development would add at least 5,000 residents to the area, according to San Luis Obispo County Supervisor Jimmy Paulding.

Meanwhile, the Trilogy at Monarch Dunes housing development is slated to add more homes to Nipomo, according to its website.

“We not only have an existing need, based on the fact that Nipomo is the largest unincorporated area in the community, but we (also) have new projects that are slated for that area that would add thousands of people,” Paulding said.

Starting the design process for the substation would cost about $1.1 to $1.2 million, San Luis Obispo County Public Works Director John Diodati said at the March 7 meeting.

This includes paying a construction manager master architect to create a bridging document, which would outline the design and construction process for the project.

After finding a contractor, the county could aim to start construction of the substation in 2026, Diodati said.

Design and construction of the building could cost about $11 million, Public Works spokesperson Paula McCambridge wrote in an email to The Tribune.

“That estimate will get refined as the project moves through delivery,” McCambridge wrote.

Why does SLO County sheriff need Nipomo substation?

Nipomo has roughly the same size population as the city of Arroyo Grande, which is home to about 18,456 people, according to the 2020 U.S. Census.

However, the Arroyo Grande population is condensed into an area of 5.8 square miles, while Nipomo’s population sprawls across almost 15 square miles, according to San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson.

“You have a response time issue,” Parkinson said.

Right now, Sheriff’s Office deputies respond to calls in Nipomo from the Oceano substation — so it takes them some time to travel to the scene of the crime, Parkinson said.

A substation in Nipomo would improve emergency response times in the South County community, and also provide a place for residents to report crimes, according to Parkinson.

In 2017, the SLO County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 to form an agreement with Trilogy at Monarch Dunes to give the county money to build a substation in Nipomo — with Supervisors Bruce Gibson and Adam Hill dissenting.

Originally, the developers agreed to build a substation as part of the housing project, but later decided only to give the county $300,000 to build a substation, Parkinson said at the March 7 meeting.

“Unfortunately, the language that was crafted back when Trilogy began was very, I would say, ambiguous,” Parkinson said. “We believed it said they had to build a substation. They believed that that’s not what it included and that we had to pay for a substation.”

When Parkinson came on board as sheriff, county counsel negotiated with Trilogy at Monarch Dunes and decided that the county should accept $300,000 from the developers to avoid a lawsuit, Parkinson said.

Parkinson added that the Trilogy development “is not an ideal location for a substation because it’s really removed.”

Instead, a better location for the substation would be on Tefft Street near the entrance to Highway 101, Parkinson said.

The spot would be easily accessible to the public and have quick access to the freeway, Parkinson said.

“The community really expects something, and they deserve something of the size that they are right now,” Parkinson said. “I do think with the (housing) projects that are coming, its going to hard for us to keep reasonable response times if they all are based out of Oceano.”