Wednesday, April 14, 1999
Kenton to list choices for jail
Public hearings to be held
BY CINDY SCHROEDER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
INDEPENDENCE — Kenton County officials plan to announce the leading sites for a new jail by the end of the month, with public hearings scheduled soon after.
“We're not going to race through this thing just to put everybody at ease,” Kenton Judge-executive Dick Murgatroyd said at Tuesday's fiscal court meeting. “We hope to announce (the leading) sites on April 27, and start the public hearings about two weeks later.”
County officials discussed six to eight possible jail sites in closed session Tuesday but took no action.
Meanwhile, an April 24 rally in Edgewood planned by opponents of a leading jail site has been postponed, pending announcement of the final jail sites.
“The plan is to come up with two or three sites that we feel really good about, and then hold public hearings to see what the public thinks is important (in choosing a jail site),” said Kenton County Commissioner Dan Humpert. “For example, are capital costs critical? Is access critical? Once we hold those hearings, we'll pick a site.”
The previous fiscal court had recommended a jail to replace the crowded, inefficient multistory facility in downtown Covington be built on the site of a former Covington junkyard at Interstate 275 and Ky. 17, or the 3L Highway.
While the 3L site is among those under consideration, several county commissioners have questioned the cost of building a jail there.
“We have got to find something that we can afford to build,” said Kenton County Commissioner Barb Black. “A low-rise facility would be less costly, but only if you don't have to spend $5 (million) to $6 million getting ready to build.”
“The 3L site is very expensive for site development,” Mr. Humpert said. “Obviously, if we could get a site that's less expensive (to develop), it would be worth looking at.”
Both Mr. Humpert and Mrs. Black questioned whether the $1.5 million estimate to build a 400-foot bridge over the Banklick Creek and the CSX Railroad was accurate.
While development costs will factor into his decision of where to build the jail, Kenton County Commissioner Adam Koenig said whatever site the county chooses needs to be large enough to allow room for expansion.
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