Alamance Community College held a ribbon cutting ceremony to mark the completion of its new Public Safety Training Center in Green Level last Thursday, September 25.
ACC’s president Dr. Ken Ingle, members of the board of trustees, staff, and students were joined for the ceremony by other local elected officials and business and industry leaders, including Alamance County sheriff Terry John-son, who helped to shape the vision for the facility more than a decade ago.
[Story continues below photos from the ribbon cutting ceremony.]
Also on hand for the ribbon-cutting ceremony was retired former ACC president Dr. Algie Gatewood, who shepherded the creation of the facility from its initial proposal in 2014 to near-completion before he retired on June 30, 2023.
The new Public Safety Training Center provides classrooms and hands-on training for students in ACC’s law enforcement, fire, and emergency services programs, in addition to providing in-service training for law enforcement officers who are already employed.
Located near the intersection of N.C. Highway 49 and Sandy Cross Road in Green Level, the facility features:
- A 15,000-square-foot classroom building;
- A 14,000-square-foot indoor firing range;
- A multi-story training tower for realistic emergency simulations;
- An emergency vehicle driving pad pavilion for training in “high-pressure” driving scenarios for students in ACC’s Basic Law Enforcement Training (BLET) program and existing law enforcement officers.
During the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Ingle said, “This training center is more than a building; it’s a promise. It’s a promise that ACC will continue to support the men and women who dedicate their lives to protecting and serving our community. By investing in their training, we are investing in the safety and future of Alamance County.”
Construction of ACC’s $19.9 million Public Safety Training Center was funded by proceeds from the $39.6 million bond package that voters approved for the community college in 2018, as well as a special $5.5 million state appropriation in the biennial budget that the General Assembly passed in 2023.
The $5.5 million appropriation included in the state budget in 2023 funded the construction of a 14,000-square foot indoor firing range with 12 individual lanes for target practice at the Green Level site, which was completed this summer, according to ACC officials.
Alamance County’s commissioners also allocated an additional $2.5 million for the Public Safety Training Center in early 2022 to cover cost overruns attributed to labor and material shortages amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Another $500,000 in federal stimulus funding through the American Rescue Plan (ARP) was secured to cover the costs to extend water lines to the site.
Another $5.7 million in federal funding was also secured by U.S. Senators Thom Tillis and Ted Budd, along with U.S. Representative Richard Hudson, to support a “phase two expansion” of the Public Safety Training Center that will begin immediately upon completion of the initial phase of construction, Ingle told ACC’s trustees last month.
Meanwhile, a fire training tower constructed of “Conex boxes,” which are similar to cargo containers, is planned for Burlington’s Fire/Police Training Center, Ingle told The Alamance News this summer. ACC’s trustees voted earlier this year to award a contract for the construction of the fire training tower and site work to Central Builders of Mebane, which is budgeted at $850,000.
Students in ACC’s firefighter program will continue to use Burlington’s Fire/Police Training Center for training exercises, though the forthcoming expansion of the facility will provide additional capacity and enhance the kinds of training that the community college is able to offer in future academic years, Ingle told the newspaper at the time.
Construction of the fire training tower is targeted for completion by next summer, according to ACC trustee and building/grounds committee chairman Bill Gomory.
