Miramar Will Pay For New Police Headquarters

MIRAMAR (CBS4) - A city's five-year battle over who should pay to replace a hurricane-damaged police headquarters is over.

According to Assistant Chief of Police Ray Black, "resources are going to have come within the city," for Miramar's new police headquarters.

The building was abandoned after 2005 when Hurricane Wilma put a hole in the roof and flooded the structure. Its current condition is beyond-salvation and will be demolished within a few weeks at a cost, approved by commission Wednesday, of $600,000, Black told CBS4's news partner The Miami Herald.

The blame-game went as follows: the city of Miramar wanted insurance money from FEMA and insurance companies to build a new police headquarters on a larger plot, but the insurance company decided that the building could have been salvaged if it had not been left abandoned.

But the battle is over and the city is moving-forward seeking a new, larger-space for the headquarters where there will be a "high visibility." According to Black a probable location is on Miramar Parkway, near the city's Town Center.

Miramar received $2.9 million total for storm damage in 2008, but that's not enough as the city will need an estimated $20 million total, said Black.

The new location's approval is expected within "several months."