As the population of Fairfax County continues to grow, the county communications center remains shoehorned into an old elementary school on Sideburn Road in Annandale. In November, voters showed enthusiasm for a public safety referendum by approving a $60 million bond that included a new communications facility.

Supervisor Elaine McConnell (R-Springfield) believes now is the time to get the wheels rolling on this.

"We need an updated communications center to serve our people," she said. "If you had a really big strike on the nation's capital, you'd need it."

One look at the 911 emergency room at the Richard A. King Pine Ridge Facility on Woodburn Road in Annandale indicates the need for space. Recent emergencies such as the Y2K scare, terrorist strikes on 9/11 or the sniper attacks last October exemplify that need.

"The center's not big enough to handle all the calls," said Fairfax County Police Captain Jim Charron, director of the center. "Sometimes as much as 70 different agencies can converge to mitigate any disaster." The center shares the old school building with the disaster operations center, garages and training facilities on the first floor, and accident reconstruction, motor carrier safety, motor squad, parking enforcement, the tactical team (SWAT), K-9 and the photo red-light divisions on the second floor.

Charron remembered the sniper shootings.

"For a couple of hours, we were getting a hundred and eighty, 911 calls every half hour," Charron said.

If the new center becomes a reality, Charron hopes to increase the call-taker positions, those receiving 911 calls, from the current 18 to 31. The offices on the second floor will then relocate, spreading out throughout the building.

"When it really gets busy, there's really too many stations to handle," Charron said.

A POTENTIAL SITE has been eyed by the county on West Ox Road on state property that was a prison, called "Camp 30," in the western portion of the Springfield District. It was an area where the Fairfax County Correctional Field Unit was previously housed. Presently, the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) occupies part of the land. There are 21 acres for the facility, and 12 acres to the south of Camp 30 are slated for a Metro and Fairfax Connector bus garage, according to assistant county manager, Rob Stalzer. The land belongs to the state.

"We're at the initial stages of working with the commonwealth. At this point, we're only talking to VDOT. VDOT has facilities they need to relocate within the next three years," he said.

According to the VDOT acquisition statement, Item C-129, pertaining to the state-owned land, "if the county of Fairfax plans to locate any of its facilities on any part of the Fairfax Corrrectional Field Unit site, then the county shall pay to the commonwealth, in FY ‘03, the sum of $1,000,000."

Stalzer had a certain sense of urgency as well.

"We're moving ahead as quickly as we can," he said.

The facility is formally known as the "EOC/PSCC," the Emergency Operations Center and Public Safety Communications Center. Saltzer said only $29 million of the bond money is for the center, and McConnell pointed out that the total price tag for the center is $59 million. She is looking at alternative ways to fund it, including a public-private partnership, similar to funding sought for the south county high school.

"We have enough money for the building only. It's going to take [another] $30 million. We need a partnership somewhere to get it done," she said.

At the Board of Supervisors last meeting, members were "supportive but not involved in the location," according to McConnell. Although it is not in Supervisor Sharon Bulova's (D-Braddock) area, she is familiar with the land and felt the other facilities in the same area would be a plus.

"When you have some kind of emergency, it would be convenient to have everyone located in the same area," Bulova said.

McConnell has brought it to the attention of Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R-10th), Sen. John W. Warner (R), Lt. Governor Timothy Kaine (D) and Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-11th).

"I did speak to Tom Davis. He knows it's a critical need," she said.

The next step, according to McConnell, is securing the land and getting the request for proposals (RFP) out.

"I want it to be up for bid before summer," she said.