The proposed U.S. Customs and Border Patrol station at Grand Forks International Airport now has tentative approvals from both Grand Forks City Council and Grand Forks County Commission.
Officials hope to start construction in June with completion by the end of the year. Both local governments gave preliminary approval to the project this week.
The 34,000-square-foot facility will replace a small CBP station located along 24th Avenue South near Columbia Road. But it will not replace the CBP/Immigration and Naturalization Service sector office on South Washington Street, said David Mercer, assistant chief patrol agent in Grand Forks.
The facility will be located on a 10-acre site at the intersection of U.S. Highway 2 and Grand Forks County Road 5, one mile west of the airport entrance.
Another CBP division has developed at the airport during the past year. The CBP Air and Marine border patrol station is part of a five-station northern U.S. boundary sector that uses unmanned aircraft and other vehicles to patrol the U.S-Canadian border.
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Other branches are located in Bellingham, Wash.; Great Falls, Mont.; Detroit and Plattsburgh, N.Y.
The new building on the west portion of the airport property will contain offices, holding cells and enough storage space to provide indoor parking for the CBP's fleet of vehicles, according to Mercer.
"They chose the site because of the nature of the operations we do," Mercer said. "It's close to the airport, and it allows a quick and in and out."
The holding cells are designed to keep detainees for 24 hours or less, while they are being processed. They then would be transferred to the Grand Forks County Correctional Center until they are taken to federal courts.
Mercer said the project has been in the works for a couple of years. Although he declined to disclose a project cost, he said the money is not coming from the federal economic stimulus funds.
Reach Bonham at (701) 780-1110; (800) 477-6572, ext. 110; or send e-mail to kbonham@gfherald.com .
