POSSIBLE INTERIM SITE for police operations in Garden Grove (OCT photo).

In a major step toward replacing the city’s public safety building with a bigger and newer facility, the Garden Grove Council voted 6-0 – with Mayor Steve Jones absent – Tuesday night to approve purchasing a two-story building in the Civic Center area for possible eventual use as the location for a new public safety building.

According to a staff report, the city will be purchasing the building at 11277 Garden Grove Blvd. (about one block east of Euclid Street) from KJ Investments Group LLC for $8,049,000.

The site could be used as an interim facility while the police department is relocated to another Civic Center spot, or as the location for a new facility.

Also on Tuesday night, the council heard an update about progress in creating a “Navigation Center” for the unsheltered in concert with the cities of Fountain Valley and Westminster.

All three cities have approved a memorandum of understanding for the creation of the facility. The agreement gives much of the oversight for the center to the “Host City,” presumably Garden Grove as the largest of the three.

At a previous council meeting, City Manager Scott Stiles said that city staff were looking at locations in the industrial areas northwest of Harbor Boulevard and Westminster Avenue.

According to Lisa Kim, assistant city manager and director of community and economic development, city staff expected to have a potential site identified to report to the council at a meeting in August.