At their regular Wednesday morning meeting, the three Monroe County commissioners put off until an undetermined date any decision on an $11.375-million purchase agreement for some land where a new jail could be built.
The property on Wednesday’s agenda amounts to about 52 acres in North Park, off SR46, south of Hunter Valley Road, which is owned by Steve Crider through Logan Land Development.
The postponement came on a rare split vote by the three commissioners. Voting against the postponement was Penny Githens, who wanted to go ahead and approve the purchase agreement. Supporting the postponement were Julie Thomas and Lee Jones.
The reason for the postponement was some news received by county attorney Jeff Cockerill the previous day from the South Central Regional Sewer District (SCRSD).
According to Cockerill, SCRSD thinks that a back-of-the-napkin cost for building a connection from its North Park Wastewater Treatment Plant, to serve an alternate site for the jail, on some land on Vernal Pike, outside the Bloomington city limits, would be around $2 million.
Previously, it had been thought that the only option for sewer service was the city of Bloomington utilities. The news seems like it could put the land on Vernal Pike back in the mix for some additional consideration as the site of a new jail. That further consideration includes two studies.
At their work session following Wednesday’s regular morning meeting, commissioners approved two contracts that are key to further consideration of the Vernal Pike land. They approved a Phase 1 environmental study and site reconnaissance with VET Environmental for $6,000.
Commissioners also approved a $12,000 contract with Patriot Engineering and Environmental for geotechnical engineering.
County attorney Jeff Cockerill told The B Square after the work session that the Phase 1 environmental study is hoped to be done by next Friday.
The $2 million cost of connecting the sewer service comes in the context of a smaller land cost for the Vernal Pike property compared to North Park.
In a letter from the two Vernal Pike landowners—Craig Cowden and Dee Burris—they clarified that they are willing to cap the price of their real estate at $3 million apiece for a total of $6 million. That’s independent of the two required appraisals that would have to be done by Monroe County government in order to purchase the land.
Both the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce and the Greater Ellettsville Area Chamber of Commerce championed the Vernal Pike property as better than North Park. The two groups sent county government leaders a joint letter of support.
Proponents of the Vernal Pike property have pointed to its more direct transportation connection to downtown Bloomington, on a surface street.
The $11.375-million purchase price for the North Park property is the average of two fair market appraisals, according to Wednesday’s meeting information packet.
So the difference in real estate cost that Monroe County government officials might weigh would, all other things being equal, be more than $5 million, when comparing the North Park land to the Vernal Pike property. The roughly $2 million that it would cost to make the sewer connection to Vernal Pike would be more than covered by the savings in the cost of land acquisition.
What made Thomas and Jones want to revisit the Vernal Pike land is the possibility of the alternative sewer connection, which is more feasible than the option offered by the city of Bloomington.
To connect sewer service to the Vernal Pike land, which lies outside of the city limits, Bloomington would require the property to be annexed voluntarily, which would also mean the voluntary annexation of all the land, no matter who owns it, between the Vernal Pike land and the city. That’s because of a contiguity requirement for annexation.
Speaking against the postponement, and for approving the purchase agreement at Wednesday’s meeting, Githens said, “I would like to go ahead with this agreement.”
Acknowledging the opposition that the commissioners have heard from residents of Ellettsville, Githens said, “We have gotten emails from people—I’ve read every single one of them. These are people who live in the Ellettsville area, saying that they oppose the jail going into North Park.”
Githens added, “I want to point out that North Park is not Ellettsville.“
Githens continued by pointing out that DLZ Corporation, the county’s master planning and design consultant on the jail project, had identified challenges for the Vernal Pike property related to karst features and steep slopes that could prevent a building a colocated jail and justice buildings in close proximity.
Based on the start of the remarks that Jones made, it sounded like Thomas’s bid to postpone would fail. Jones opened by saying, “I really agree with everything that Commissioner Githens just said.” About the opposition from nearby landowners at North Park and in Ellettsville, Githens said, “I would like to add that it’s obvious that there’s really no one in the county who is dying to have a jail put in their midst”.
Jones also said, “The human suffering that’s being caused by our lack of movement is not something that should be ignored.” She continued, “I certainly hope that the taxpayers aren’t ignoring the fact that every delay is costing us more and more and more money. ”
That part of Jones’s comments got to the reason that the county is planning to build a new jail.
In 2008, the ACLU filed a lawsuit based the Monroe County jail operates under a settlement agreement that has been extended several times. The current effort towards constructing a new jail, stems from two reports from consultants hired to study the local criminal justice system. The reports were delivered three years ago, in July 2021.
The reports from the two consultants—RJS Justice Services and Inclusivity Strategic Consulting—highlighted a number of challenges in Monroe County’s criminal justice system. The key conclusion from the RJS study, which prompted the start to the recent effort was: “The jail facility is failing and cannot ensure consistent and sustainable provision of constitutional rights of incarcerated persons.”
Still, on Wednesday morning, Jones landed in support of Thomas’s motion to postpone: “I do think that we owe it to people to explore further what could happen with the Vernal Pike site.” But she continued, “I don’t want to devote too much time to that.” She added, “I also want to make it very clear that I will not support anything that does not allow the jail and the justice center to be placed adjacently.”
For her part, Thomas called North Park a “preferable site, much preferred.” But she wanted to get an initial review done by VET Environmental—she thinks there are probably more karst features on the land than are already marked on the map. Thomas has the same reservations about the Vernal Pike property that Jones described—that it might not be possible to locate the jail and courts close enough to each other.
Thomas said none of the “on-the-ground reviews” for the Vernal Pike had been done, and she wanted to get a firmer idea of the cost for running a sewer line from the South Central Regional Sewer District (SCRSD) treatment plant. That was her motivation for wanting to put off a decision on the purchase of the North Park land.
“This is the biggest decision we’re going to make in this office, and it’s the most important one,” Thomas said. But Thomas wants the additional information about the Vernal Pike property to be gathered quickly, saying, “Time is money.”
Under state law, the county council also has to approve the purchase of any new significant property, regardless of how it is funded.
Seems like whomever buys that N. Point property will need to cough up another $2mm just for sewer. Wouldn’t that lower the appraised value? And If County was blindsided by the extra $2mm, were the appraisers?
No, the $2M cost for sewer hook-on was for the Vernal Pike property, not the North Park property. And far from blindsiding, the $2M price tag was actually a positive surprise that keeps the Vernal Pike property in the mix (for the moment). Up until now, everyone thought that the City of Bloomington was the only possible provider for sewer, but in order to get the City to permit the sewer hook-on, not only would the Vernal Pike property have to be voluntarily annexed, but several intervening properties would have to. The fact that for (possibly) $2M, the North Park wastewater treatment facility (operated by South Central Regional Sewer District) could also provide sewer to the Vernal Pike property keeps it as a viable option.
To address Commissioner Jones’s astute concerns about connectivity of the co-located jail and court facilities:
I would like to respectfully suggest a skywalk connection from the jail to the co-located judicial facility. This would allow a safe and convenient transportation option for residents of the jail who need to attend required court hearings.
🤣🤣🤣 something tells me we’ll be hearing from ole’ Bicycle Greg on that one. I for one am psyched to know how much we can save on two skywalks. Always buy in bulk!
The vernal pike property is a worse choice, late in the game money grab by cowden. If the County is even considering the logistics of land use law, future of economic development, and safety of citizens not just those put in incarceration and released then why on earth have they still not revisited the property actually in the City limits? Simply, they don’t want the jail near their homes clearly so just make it other citizens’ problems. PUT THE JAIL DOWNTOWN – unelected folks who sit in a board and make unprofessional comments about their limited plan proposal capacity should not be a factor in driving the selection of such a site.
Geez…go back to Thomson site. As jail is being built, correct the property issues and then build to colacated offices
1. To Mr. Askins – I believe you might have mentioned it before, but thank you for not stating that building a new jail was mandatory, according to any settlement agreement. It isn’t. This has been reported numerous times by many outlets, and it is not correct.
2. To co-location – Does a hotel or renovated apartment building appear where the justice center is currently is, after any new jail/court facility is built?
3. To co-location – other counties implemented video conferencing from a new jail for court hearings, so they would not have to move their courts/build new court facilities.
Vigo comes to mind as one of those counties. Vigo spent around $130 mil for a new jail facility, but they did not build a new courthouse, or new building for their courts.
Delaware county comes to mind as another, as they renovated an existing school building for $45 mil / 500 beds, and their courts are still located in their original location.
“The county will spend nearly $3 million a year for 20 years out of EDIT funds to pay for the project.”
https://www.thestarpress.com/story/news/local/2019/09/12/jail-construction-former-wilson-middle-school-time-and-budget/2214576001/
it is really depressing for me to say: the vernal pike location is much much better than the north park (SR46) location. it’s a little bit closer to the city and it’s much less dangerous for people who can’t afford a car — to put it bluntly, the body count is lower. it’s *still* an awful location though, and the extremely low quality bike/ped facilities that do exist on vernal pike should be an enduring source of shame for the county highway department. but it’s better than SR46. it’s better than SR46.
it needs to be in city limits. it needs to be walking distance to the bus station and to all of the other county / court / justice offices. the RCA site would work. the convention center site would work. hopewell would work. *THE EXISTING LOCATION WOULD WORK*. if you think it’s expensive to remediate the problems with the existing building, COMPARE THAT PRICE TAG TO WHAT THE COMMISSIONERS ARE PROPOSING AT NORTH PARK.
the commissioners decided, a priori and unilaterally, that they would pursue a design that can’t work in any of these locations. that decision was a mistake. yes, each of these options has huge challenges — expensive challenges. but the commissioners are eager to spend $12M of our tax dollars on land when they already own vacant land all over the city. we’re going to spend a ton of money on this! the north park location is not the cheap option by any stretch. if cost is the reason not to build at RCA then cost is an even better reason not to build at north park!
i understand there are benefits to a single story design for a jail, but that’s not true for the copious amounts of office space that all the auxiliary services will require. they can be built in a tower. the county commissioners built parking in a tower just over 5 years ago. more than a hundred years ago, our courthouse was built as a 3 story building. there’s nothing magical about this formula of modeling a giant justice campus after a 1 story ranch house on slab. it’s just like mayor Thomson said when she changed course on the police station — the police station and the fire station have unique physical requirements but the fire department offices are just office space and can cheaply go in any old office space.
there’s a reason beacon (shalom) is downtown. there’s a reason supportive and transitional housing for addicts is walkable to downtown. there’s a reason the courthouse, the probation office, the bail bondsman, the lawyers’s offices are downtown. there’s a reason the bus station is downtown. there’s a reason that the woman for whom the freaking justice building was named for lives downtown! (i don’t mean to make it personal but her downtown residence was already in the news for when she ‘all lives matter’ed a group of protesters a few years back)
all the chalked love notes written on the east sidewalk of college avenue across from the existing jail *are an anti-recidivism program*. an enduring community connection that lasts longer than the jail sentence is the #1 predictor of success at rehabilitation. that program cannot be relocated to north park!
poverty and criminal justice and car non-ownership are all hugely overlapping categories. they go together. it’s hard enough to get people to show up for their court-ordered dates when it’s right downtown. it will be much harder at north park and all of these services will suffer as a result.
Respectfully disagree about vernal. Beacon, boca recovery, wheeler, etc. all continue to be pushed toward the west side (to be clear not north-west and not within any normal walking or bus distance from vernal). However, decisions such as moving all recovery and housing services west and now looking at impacting the whole community by unilaterally deciding the jail should be located near the north west and west side communities is a farce. Just another show of how the elected officials don’t want these developments near their homes and how yet again the east side of Bloomington and Monroe county are continually prioritized over the rest of the population. While you may find it better because it could be one smidge closer to city limits, those who live immediately around the property at vernal (or even near north park) find this to be absurd and undesirable. The stark different about the Fullerton pike property is residents had a city council rep or two to make a voting difference for them. This is not the case for the unincorporated county area. Residents feel they don’t have a fighting chance to make an impact or difference on this decisions – which we agree should be downtown. When will the residents of the northwest and west side be prioritized and given better infrastructure, parks, etc. without having to walk/drive/etc. past a jail in order to get said improvements? Also has anyone thought about the logistics of the existing county park nearby? How can certain folks be within this distance of children, for example?