'Growing exponentially': Hope Mills opens new public safety center amidst rapid growth
HOPE MILLS, N.C. (WTVD) -- The town of Hope Mills held a ribbon cutting for its new John W. Hodges Public Safety Center.
Officials say the center is meant to accommodate the expanding needs of Hope Mills' quickly growing population.
"Hope Mills is growing exponentially and they did build this building with growth in mind because as both the population grows and the community grows, then both the fire department and the police department will have to grow in number," said Hope Mills Police Chief Stephen Dollinger.
"We're up to almost 20,000 people since I've been mayor and they're projecting that possibly in 10 years we'll be over 50,000 people because of the development in our area. So this was built for the future," said Hope Mills Mayor Jackie Warner.
Construction on the new $17 million facility has been underway for the past two and a half years. The new facility accounts for the town's growth by adding housing quarters for firefighters, more firemen on staff, fire trucks, and police equipment. Also, both the Police Department and Fire Department are now together in the same building operating out of different wings. Officials say that will improve communication and optimize emergency response.
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Hope Mills Town Manager Chancer McLaughlin says the town's struggles with natural disasters in recent years spurred the town to begin creating a new emergency center.
"After the events with 2016, 2018 with hurricanes Matthew and Florence, Hope Mills was faced with a unique challenge in that we were cut off from the rest of Cumberland County as well as all of the surrounding counties, and we were not in a position to be able to take care of ourselves."
The center was launched with the help of a federal loan program designed to help develop essential community facilities. Mayor Warner says there may be more like it on the horizon.
"We can wait and plan for that once we see which way our growth is actually going..." said Mayor Jackie Warner. "When it kind of settles down, then if we need to add additional substations, that's where we need to look at it."
