Keep Bailing

Farmland south of the Salinas city limits has been slated as the building site for a new and larger Monterey County jail that will be part of a “public safety campus.” Other facilities on the proposed site include a new juvenile hall, youth center and a Probation Department. Unfortunately, the county currently doesn’t have the budget to construct this detention center or its related facilities, so it will probably be five years until ground can be broken. But that did not stop the Monterey County Board of Supervisors from approving it, anyway.

The deal allows for the purchase of 127 acres of farmland between the Salinas Municipal Airport and Highway 101. It is part of a larger agreement between the county and city that also involves the construction of a new soccer complex at a site on Constitution Boulevard (which is already county- owned) across from Natividad Medical Center and a city-owned lot in downtown Salinas that would become a county employee parking garage.

“This is important for the county and it should be important for the city,” Supervisor Siman Salinas said. The supervisor contends that the current county jail, located on the Laurel Drive-Natividad Road campus, has been overcrowded for years.

Salinas added that the city’s cooperation in developing the new jail site was essential if they were to receive the federal and state grant funding needed to pay for it. The new jail would be able to support 2,000 prisoners at a building cost of around $130 million dollars. The juvenile hall is expected to cost about $118 million, and the county cannot pay for it without outside help, either.

A state prison inmate re-entry facility may also be added on to the proposed jail site, but Salinas says that right now expanding the jail is the county’s top priority. Also, earlier attempts to secure funding by promising a re-entry facility have been met with intense community opposition, especially when it was suggested that this type of prison be placed near the current jail.

Mayor Dennis Donohue said relocating the jail outside the city would be a “great opportunity.” The agreement includes a promise from the county to support the city’s desire to annex farmland between the jail site parcel and the city limits and then develop it into retail and factory space.

Still, county officials have been seriously debating about a jail site since last year, and negotiations with the property owner and the city have been ongoing. The facility will have room to expand, supporters contend, yet will be near enough to the county courthouse to remain convenient.

Under the terms of the land owner’s letter of intent, the county has 45 days to complete the option agreement, which would give the county five years to purchase the property. If the county buys the property before the agreement is terminated, the pact automatically extends through 2030.

Source: The Herald