DMV Breaks Ground for New San Ysidro Office

SACRAMENTO-The California Department of Motor Vehicles is breaking ground on a brand new, customer-friendly facility in the southeast part of San Diego, the state’s second-largest city.

The new building will replace the 21-year-old San Ysidro field office when it is completed in September of 2006. The new structure will be located at 6111 Business Center Court in San Diego. A number of local dignitaries have been invited to the formal groundbreaking ceremony on May 23, 2005, which is set to begin at 11 a.m. at the construction site. They include Assemblyman Juan Vargas, Congressman Robert Filner and a number of DMV officials including Director Joan Borucki.

Borucki said the San Ysidro office is one of the busier of the 168 field offices operated by DMV. It has 25 permanent employees and another 14 temporary positions. They handled some 235,000 registration and driver license transactions in 2004 and administered some 9,000 drive tests.

The building will be part of a new business park being developed by Pardee Homes. It will be located 3.4 miles from the old San Ysidro office, which will continue to operate until the new DMV facility is open for business.

After-hours security will be enhanced with wrought-iron perimeter fencing that will include a rolling entrance gate. Inside, the new building was designed to maximize energy savings by utilizing more natural light and less artificial illumination. Under-floor air distribution will reduce the amount of energy required to run the air conditioning and heating and will make for a more evenly distributed and more comfortable temperature in the building.

Statewide, DMV is continuing its effort to shorten lines and wait times at all its offices and wants customers to understand there are a number of options available. If properly utilized, those options allow customers to conduct most DMV transactions from the comfort of their homes, dramatically reducing the number of face-to-face transactions in field offices like San Ysidro.

Most routine services can be handled by mail -- and now by way of the Internet. More than 3 million Californians have registered their vehicles electronically, and more than a quarter million have renewed their driver licenses on the Internet. All that’s needed for either transaction is DMV paperwork that is sent in the mail several weeks in advance of payment deadlines, personal identification information and a credit card. The DMV Website is located at www.dmv.ca.gov.

If a face-to-face visit to a DMV office is necessary, appointments are always encouraged. They can be made on the Website or by phone at 1-800-921-1117. Both phone and Internet options are available 7 days a week, 24 hours a day.

DMV Breaks Ground for New San Ysidro Office; Old Facility Stays Open for Business Until Construction Completed