Forty six years ago, the Santa Clarita Valley admired the opening of its new 25,000-square-foot sheriff’s station.

The station opened its doors on May 24, 1972 with about 60 deputies serving the valley.

By 2018, the number of deputies has increased to 224, along with additional support staff needed to keep the station running. But they remained in the same 25,000-square-foot building from the 1970s.

“The station has definitely outgrown the needs of the community,” said Los Angeles County Board of Supervisor Kathryn Barger.

But on Wednesday, the city of Santa Clarita, the County of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department took the first steps toward building a new sheriff’s station to replace the one built more than four decades ago.

Community members, law enforcement leaders and city officials dug out shovelfuls of dirt to celebrate the groundbreaking of the new Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station, which is set to be operational in 2020.

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The new station will almost double the space available to deputies, increasing the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Santa Clarita base from 25,000 square feet to 46,000.

The new site will also offer resources for deputies, detectives and all the station staff and will include an additional 4,000-square-foot vehicle maintenance facility, heliport, 911 dispatch center and jail, according to city officials.

“As the population of the Santa Clarita valley grows, the staffing needs will definitely continue to grow as well,” said Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell.

The site of the new sheriff’s station will sit on city-owned property on Golden Valley Road, giving it central access to the Santa Clarita Valley, according to city officials.

“This community, since I’ve grown up here, since 1965, has always been a community that always surrounds around public safety,” said Captain Robert Lewis, who leads the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station.

The new station is the latest in a series of expansions as law enforcement personnel work to protect a continually growing community.  

In 1926 the Sheriff’s Station in the valley was called Newhall Substation No. 6, built in Newhall on what is now Main St. and Sixth Street. It was staffed with eight men, according to Santa Clarita Mayor Laurene Weste.

Then in ‘72, the current Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station was established on Magic Mountain Parkway.

With Santa Clarita’s population now sitting at roughly 300,000 people, and multiple housing developments in the works throughout the Santa Clarita Valley, the new sheriff’s station is expected to continue to provide public safety for the 668 square miles of the valley, Weste said at the groundbreaking ceremony.

Construction will cost an estimated $51 million, with oversight from the city of Santa Clarita.

For more information on Santa Clarita Valley projects, visit the website here.

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