LIVONIA—Public safety professionals-in-training and active duty personnel will benefit from the college’s new Public Safety Training Complex in Livonia. The complex represents a unique partnership between the college and the City of Livonia.
The city owns the 17-acre parcel of land on Glendale Avenue, between Farmington and Merriman Roads. The college is leasing the property and several existing structures for 50 years.
Through a combination of renovation and new construction, this project will place a 10-acre driving course, a four-story fire training tower, and a confined space training area in close proximity to the City of Livonia’s existing firearms range and on-the-ground fire training units. Another existing building on the site is also being renovated and will house a fire training house (which was relocated from other City of Livonia property), a situational training maze, classrooms, and a vehicle storage and garage area. The result will be a training complex that can simulate a variety of police, fire and rescue situations.
Members of the Livonia City Council and Schoolcraft College Board of Trustees were on hand for the Groundbreaking Ceremony held June 24. In addition, members of the Planning Committee, which included a number of staff members from the college, the city and the professional contractors working on the project, were recognized for their efforts.
“Schoolcraft College has a tremendous history and reputation for providing well-trained and highly skilled public safety professionals to our surrounding communities,” said Dr. Conway A. Jeffress, president of Schoolcraft College. “In fact, nearly every civic fire department and police department in metropolitan Detroit has at least one Schoolcraft graduate in its ranks.” The resources of the new Public Safety Training Complex will be used not only by Schoolcraft students and Livonia public safety professionals, but other surrounding communities and local, state and federal agencies will benefit from its resources for professional development and training as well.
“To us, this partnership made tremendous common sense,” said Livonia Mayor Jack KIrksey. “It was a great way for us to find new life for the property (a former landfill) and serve a higher social purpose in training those who protect us.”
Paul Stachowiak, president of Integrated Design Solutions, architect/engineer on the project, lauded those who have worked to make the Public Safety Training Complex a reality. “ Four years ago we were approached by the college to begin an indepth study to determine the appropriate type of property to bring this to fruition,” he said. “By taking a very responsible approach, and with a lot of passion, commitment and persistence on the part of a lot of players, we are able to celebrate this groundbreaking.”
“Even though we are celebrating this ceremonial groundbreaking today, there has already been a tremendous amount of work already put into this project,” said Mike Carroll, chief financial officer of the George W. Auch Company, construction manager on the project. “More than 55,000 hours of work will be provided by approximately 60 area professionals, including plumbers, electricians, carpenters, masons and many others, during the renovation and construction phases of this project.”
Robert Stevenson, Livionia’s Chief of Police and a graduate of Schoolcraft College, shared his excitement and congratulations on the project.  “On behalf of the Wayne County Chiefs of Police Association and everyone in Livonia, we offer our congratulations to the leaders of Schoolcraft College and the City of Livonia. We look forward to completion of the complex that we are certain will lead to the most highly trained public safety professionals in the nation.”
Schoolcraft College is a public two-year college, offering classes at the Livonia campus, Haggerty Road between Six and Seven Mile Roads, at the Radcliff Center in Garden City and online at schoolcraft.edu.