JSA Architecture and Planning to Design Sheriff's Station 

Phase I of Gills Onions Expansion Continues

JSA ARCHITECTURE AND PLANNING TO DESIGN SHERIFF'S STATION

The City of Ojai has awarded JSA Architecture and Planning the contract for the remodeling of the County of Ventura Sheriff's Station, located at 402 S. Ventura, Ojai. The project involves a renovation of 500 sq. ft. and the design of a 2,600 sq.ft. addition.

The new extension will include a squad room, an emergency operations center (EOC), men's and women's locker rooms, and an administrative support office for the Ojai Police/County of Ventura Sheriff's Department. A modification of holding cells to meet with current law enforcement standards is planned for the existing building, as well as a restoration and extension of the wood arbor around the perimeter of the building. The construction plans will match the existing Mission style of the building and the nearby historic city hall.

JSA will also be re-designing the exterior space. This will include additional parking to accommodate the squad cars of their increasing police force, a secured operations yard, and a secured bicycle storage area.

"The plans for the Ventura County Sheriff's Station is a reflection of the growth in Ventura County over the last few years," explains John Serrato, AIA, president of JSA Architecture and Planning. "As our communities grow, so does the need for increased community service. We're proud to be part of this expansion."

The designs for this project have been completed, reviewed and approved by all the governing agencies. It will be going out for general bid by the end of April 2000. Construction is expected to begin in the Summer and completed by late Fall of 2000. 

PHASE I OF GILLS ONIONS EXPANSION CONTINUES

The headquarters of Gills Onions is a step closer to final completion with Phase I, the recent opening of a new storage cooler, processing/cold room and engine room (central plant) at the company's new Pacific Avenue, Oxnard location. Gills Onions is the nation's largest processor and distributor of fresh processed onion products. The structures represent Phase I of a three-phase construction plan and completes two of the main eight buildings on the $2.2 million property. The land was acquired more than two years ago and is adjacent to Gills Onions' current Oxnard, CA processing facility.

"We're extremely pleased with the results of the construction," says Gills Onions partner Steve Gill. "The cold storage facility, attached processing room and the central plant are working better than expected. We now have space to cool and store 80 loads of onions, which is 3.5 million pounds. If you combine the ambient air refrigerated system in northern California, this facility expands Gills Onions total storage capacity by approximately 25 percent."

The cooler is the largest high-speed cooling and onion storage facility on the West Coast. It's not just the fact that it is 22,670 square feet that sets it apart. What truly sets it apart is that it holds six high-speed cooling tunnels each measuring eight feet wide, 18 feet long and four feet thick, while combined they have a total operating weight of 105,000 lbs. (a standard car weighs about 3,200 lbs.).

The fans act like a vacuum, pulling cold air through the product and inside the tunnel with the force of 50 horsepower, and then releasing it back into the cooler space. When warm onions from the field are placed next to the pre-cool fans, they are cooled to a temperature of 34° in less than four hours. 

"Each tunnel is like a refrigerator," says John Serrato, AIA, president of JSA Architecture & Planning, designers of the project and cooling system. "The cooler is designed for better energy management."

Additionally, the room is filled with sensors on the ceiling, walls, fans and tunnels. Since the room's temperature and humidity are computer controlled, these devices provide monitoring in each area of the facility.

In addition to building 6, construction was completed on the adjoining processing/cold room (building 5) and the engine room (building 8, central plant). Building 5, which is 10,500 square feet, has a new peeling line, a separate inspection area, processing room and a cold clean room for the Gills Onions new value added food service line. 

"Completion of Phase I of the construction enables us to better serve our customers," Steve says. "We're very excited to have this first step in the construction completed. We're that much closer to having increased processing ability and serving our customers growing needs for fresh-cut onion products."

The next construction stage of Phase I, Gills Onions' new expanded production/processing lines (building 2), is scheduled to be finished in June of 2000, making the entire project 65% complete.

For photos and updated information on food processing and facility technology, see the next issue of the JSA Connection coming this Spring.