Cleveland County Commissioners chose jail site

Cleveland County Commissioners voted 3-0 Monday to build the new county detention center on a 28.92-acre tract of land located near Franklin Road and 24th Avenue NW. They also appointed Ben Graves, a principal partner in the firm Architects in Partnership, to start drawing plans.

Chairman George Skinner said the site selection committee had looked at more than 60 sites originally, handing the commissioners 10 sites they thought were the best. After careful study, commissioners picked the Franklin Road property.

Skinner said many people in the neighborhood did not want the center built there.

“It is in my district, and I took it to heart and looked at other sites,” Skinner said.

He said he looked at some property on North Base, but it was not big enough and it was across the street from the Cleveland County Family YMCA. Another lot was across from Sysco Food Services of Oklahoma, but it was too rough and would take too much work. Skinner said he considered land by the Cleveland County Sheriff’s substation south of Noble but there are no utilities there and it would be more expensive to build there, he said. Another piece of property was by Highway 9 and Jenkins Avenue, but Yamanouchi Consumer Inc. owns one side and OU owns the other, he said, so that piece is not viable.

The last piece commissioners considered was a 240-acre site near the Lexington Assessment and Reception Center. The Department of Corrections said they would help pay and would even lease beds from the county. However, the water wells and lagoons there are barely adequate for their prison. Skinner said it would be more expensive for the county to build new water wells and lagoons than to build on one of the other sites.

Last month, Skinner, Commissioner Rusty Sullivan, Graves, Sheriff DeWayne Beggs and Cleveland County jail administrator Sid Stell attended a National Institute of Corrections jail design seminar in Colorado, along with representatives from four other counties in Oklahoma with the same overcrowding problem.

Skinner said they visited a detention center north of Denver that was in an industrial site right off a highway much like the Franklin road area. Skinner said it did not look like a jail. The way it was built and bermed up, he said, with shrubbery and trees, it looked like an office building.

“You walk inside and the reception area looked like an office building, too,” Skinner said.

Past that was a large recreation hall, offices, an infirmary and then the cells, he said. That center holds 177 inmates and they are going to have to build on, Skinner said.

“People who live in that area (Franklin Road and 24th Avenue NW) have commented and I have assured them this property will not look like a detention center,” Skinner said.

A doctor’s office is being built right across the highway, Skinner said, and he doesn’t think people would be building offices if the detention center would be a problem.

Skinner also said there was no left turn at the intersection of Franklin Road and 24th Avenue NW because it was too dangerous. The city and county are talking about moving that intersection one city block south and possibly putting up a traffic light, Skinner said. That would solve another problem.

Sullivan said some people had voiced concern that property values would decrease. He said Don Sullivan with the Department of Corrections had done several studies that showed property values actually increased. He also said he liked the central location, serving the entire county.

District 1 Commissioner Rod Cleveland said since he was not in on the jail studies from the beginning, he thought he could be unbiased and after weighing all the pros and cons, regarding costs, utilities, location, he could “say with confidence, we’ve made a good choice.”

Skinner said Graves will begin to draw the plans with input from the commissioners, Don Jones and Sheriff Beggs. He said the building would be one story and they are planning on 500 beds. Sullivan said as fast as the county is growing they will need that many.

Once the plans are approved, they will look at costs and how to pay for it, Skinner said. He thinks the whole process will take 30 to 36 months.

The commissioners plan to keep the present detention center, built in 1984, open as well and will use it to house prisoners awaiting trial.

In his jail report, Neil Vickers told commissioners the detention center averaged 213 prisoners the week of Sept. 13-19. This is 12 more than the previous week.