(rshsdepot) Kingsburg, CA

["jdent1_@_optonline.net" <jdent1@optonline.net>]

Rebirth in Kingsburg=20
By Donald E=2E Coleman
The Fresno Bee
Published 01/21/03 05:35:16

KINGSBURG -- City leaders are putting finishing touches on a new police
headquarters and getting ready to make an old train depot the centerpiece
of revitalization=2E
The city's Police Department moved from a cramped, 1,900-square-foot
building used by 15 sworn officers, six records and communications
employees, 25 reserve officers, six community officers, six Explorer Scout=
s
and four police dogs to an 11,000-square-foot headquarters that once was a=

fitness center=2E

The new headquarters has many of the things the old building lacked:
showers for prisoners and officers, a gym, video security, an evidence
room, secured parking and a training room=2E

"If we had to go back to the old building, we wouldn't be able to get all
the stuff back in there even though we know it came out of there," said Lt=
=2E
Jeff Dunn, a 16-year department veteran=2E

The building will become strictly the province of the Fire Department, sai=
d
City Manager Don Pauley=2E

The city also plans to restore the old train depot, unused for more than a=

decade and in disrepair=2E

The holdup on the $750,000 restoration project is that the Union Pacific
Railroad Co=2E has not yet turned over the title to the city on the
approximately 10,000-square-foot building=2E

Terry Schmal, city planning and development director, said railroad
officials plan to transfer the title by the end of March=2E

The city wants to convert the depot, which is just south of Draper Street,=

into a multipurpose facility=2E

Schmal said a $410,000 state grant dictates the money be used for
transportation-related purposes=2E

A local bus depot, a historical museum, a coffee shop and a community
center are just some of the possibilities discussed, said Garrison Jones, =
a
member of the Train Depot Planning Committee=2E

Of more immediate concern is keeping unauthorized visitors out, Schmal
said=2E Police are patrolling the two-story building, where windows and do=
ors
are broken=2E

In some cases, the window and door frames are so rotted that the wood is
useless for attaching fasteners=2E Schmal said the city is investigating t=
he
possibility of covering some of the structure with plastic to slow the
weathering process=2E

Kingsburg's train depot was built in the 1870s, Schmal said=2E A 1920s fir=
e
destroyed that building and the current red stucco structure was moved to
the city from Monson in Tulare County=2E

The building expansions seem to follow the city's move away from limited
growth and development that has been in place for a decade=2E

The city Planning Commission this month heard a presentation on the North
Kingsburg Specific Plan, which will address traffic, storm-water drainage,=

schools, infrastructure and other services affected by growth=2E

The plan covers the area north of Stroud Avenue to Mountain View between
Highway 99 to the west and Madsen Avenue to the east=2E In addition to are=
as
of residential expansion, the proposal will include an industrial corridor=

that runs along the east side of the freeway=2E

The last major changes to land-use policy in north Kingsburg were part of
the 1992 update of the city's general plan, which is a blueprint for growt=
h=2E

Since 1988, the city has set the residential housing growth rate at 3%, or=

between 110 and 120 housing units a year=2E

The reporter can be reached at dcoleman_@_fresnobee=2Ecom or 441-6360=2E


=A9 2002 , The Fresno Bee=20

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=================================
The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

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