Santa Barbara Police Station Breaks Ground After Long Road of Planning

Milestone Moment Marks Beginning of Construction on State-of-the-Art Downtown Facility

Pictured from left, Santa Barbara Police Chief Kelly Gordon, City Administrator Kelly McAdoo, Councilmember Meagan Harmon, Councilmember Oscar Gutierrez, Mayor Randy Rowse, Councilmember Eric Friedman, and Public Works Director Cliff Maurer broke ground on the new police station on Monday, November 18. | Credit: Courtesy

Police Chief Kelly Gordon said it was her priority to get the police station across the finish line. | Credit: Courtesy

It’s been a long road with several mayors, a couple of city administrators, and more than a few police chiefs along the way, but on Monday afternoon, Santa Barbara’s dignitaries finally donned their ceremonial hard hats and put golden shovels to dirt for the long-awaited groundbreaking of the new $100 million police station downtown.

The new facility will replace the current, outdated building — built in 1959 and much too small for a police force serving a city with more than 85,000 people — with a modernized station that will put all operations under one roof and, according to Police Chief Kelly Gordon, bring the department “into the 21st century and beyond.”

“More than anything,” Chief Gordon said during the groundbreaking ceremony, “this is going to provide the community with better access to their police department, which is really the biggest priority.”

The new 65,000-square-foot police station, which is funded by the Measure C sales tax passed by city voters in 2017, has been more than two decades in the making. Mayor Randy Rowse said he remembers being part of the search for a new site for the station back when he was on the city’s parking committee about 30 years ago.

During Monday’s ceremony, City Administrator Kelly McAdoo gave credit to her predecessors Paul Casey and Jim Armstrong, who were both in the crowd, and former police chief Cam Sanchez, also in attendance.

Work will be handled by ProWest Constructors, a California-based contractor that has built large-scale projects for UC Santa Barbara, Cottage Hospital, and the County of Santa Barbara. Construction will begin in January 2025 and the new station is expected to be complete in spring 2027, with a maximum cost of $121 million.