Richland County to vote on start of $40 million public safety complex

The Richland County Council will vote Tuesday whether to finance a $40 million public safety complex.

If approved, the complex would include a new 911 call center, a lab for analyzing criminal evidence, and offices for the pardon, probation and parole department. The new facilities would be in Columbia Place Mall at 7201 Two Notch Road, according to the council’s agenda. To pay for the project, the county would issue a bond, in effect borrowing the money.

The county owns at least one of the former department stores in the mall after purchasing it for a plan that was once called “Richland Renaissance.”

Richland Renaissance was mostly abandoned in 2018 after former County Administrator Gerald Seals was fired.

David Travis Bland

The State

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David Travis Bland is The State’s editorial editor. In his prior position as a reporter, he was named the 2020 South Carolina Journalist of the Year by the SC Press Association. He graduated from the University of South Carolina in 2010. Support my work with a digital subscription