New firing range and driving pad breaks ground in Manatee County

Jay Romine was all smiles as he put on a hard hat and grabbed a shovel.

Romine, who is the director of the Law Enforcement Academy at Manatee Technical College, has been waiting 15 years to see a facility with a firing range and driving pad be constructed in Manatee County. 

“I wasn’t sure if I’d ever seen it happen, but now, we are going to see it happen,” he said. “It’s exciting for the citizens of Manatee County and for all the law enforcement agencies in the county.”

Manatee Technical College officials and the Bradenton Police Department celebrated a groundbreaking May 4 for the Manatee Technical College-City of Bradenton Police Firing and Driving Range.

The state-of-the-art facility will be constructed on 70 acres off Taylor Road in Myakka City.  

Courtesy rendering

MTC received a $2 million grant from the state to put toward the firing and driving range. The School District of Manatee County will provide the rest of the funding for the $4,769,164 facility. 

The School Board of Manatee County approved the project in July 2021 and has since been going through approvals with other stakeholders along with planning and design.

Mike Pendley, an executive planner for the School District of Manatee County, said the next step for the project is to go through permitting with Manatee County. He said A.D. Morgan, the project’s contractor, is projecting to officially break ground in November with the project’s completion being sometime in the summer or fall of 2024. 

Manatee Technical College and the Bradenton Police Department will work in conjunction to manage the facility. 

Courtesy rendering

The facility will feature a 25-yard pistol range, 100-yard rifle range, a simulated shoot house, a 300-by-600-foot driving pad and a building containing a classroom, offices, a gun room and more.

“Never in the history of Manatee County, with the county as big as it is, have we had a public safety firing range, never have we had a driving range, never have we had a shoot house to this caliber,” said Melanie Bevan, the chief of the Bradenton Police. “Here’s an opportunity for agencies from all over to be able to come and get the kind of training that saves lives.”

Bevan, Bradenton Mayor Gene Brown and School Board of Manatee County Chair Chad Choate commended the collaborative efforts between the Bradenton City Council, Bradenton Police Department, Manatee Technical College and the School Board of Manatee County to make the facility a reality. 

“Sometimes government bodies don’t necessarily agree on things,” Choate said. “This proves we can come together as different bodies of government and get great things accomplished for our area. What’s more important is our men and women who serve us in the community and keep us protected will have a great facility to train in.”

Bevan said if her officers want or need to get training at a firing or driving range, they have to travel to St. Petersburg. With the new facility in Manatee County, officers can spend less time traveling to training and more time protecting and serving. 

Photo by Liz Ramos

“If we want to get that kind of training, we have to drive to a different county, a different city,” Bevan said. “No more, we’re going to have it in our own backyard. … You’re going to have officers out there that are going to have that advanced training that is going to allow us to serve and protect even better.”

Romine said the facility will help train the MTC Law Enforcement Academy’s recruits to be more highly trained before going into the field. 

“There’s never been a time, in my opinion, that proper training is more important for law enforcement than it is right now,” he said. “We have to make sure we are producing the best quality recruits we can. I think we do, and we’re going to do it even better with the proper facilities to use.”

The MTC Law Enforcement Academy has between 30 and 35 students per class in its basic recruit academy. The academy also offers equivalency training for out-of-state officers who are moving and going to work in Florida, which Romine said there’s been an influx of these officers over the past few years as people move to the state.

The 123 officers in the Bradenton Police Department will be using the facility for training. Bevan said agencies across the county, such as the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office and Holmes Beach and Palmetto police departments, will be able to use the facility. 

Romine said he already has told Jennifer Gilray, the assistant director at MTC’s east campus, that he’ll be spending several hours at the new facility upon its completion. 

“This is my 44th year in law enforcement in Manatee County, and quite honestly, I wondered if I’d ever see this day come,” he said. “I keep telling Dr. Gilray that we need to get this done so I can retire because I refuse to leave until this is done and it’s in operation.”