BEMIDJI 鈥� A site for the new Beltrami County Jail has been selected, with the Beltrami County Board of Commissioners approving a donation agreement for the Crown Property during a special meeting on Wednesday morning.
The Crown Property is located on Pioneer Street Southeast with a secondary access to Railroad Street Southeast near the Bemidji Community Food Shelf. The site is 9.2 acres and is zoned as general industrial. All of its property is usable with utilities nearby and it is not wooded and has no pre-existing structures.
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Another plus of the site is that it has been offered as a donation to the county by the owners, meaning that acquiring the land will have no cost to the county.
鈥淩ecent events have essentially allowed the owner to donate the property, which is huge savings for the county,鈥� said County Administrator Tom Barry.
The Crown Property was the second highest-rated site for a potential jail location, the highest ranked being unavailable. It was under consideration alongside the Quello Property located in the Industrial Park, which had its purchase agreement rejected at the same meeting where the Crown Property was approved.
鈥淚 want to thank John Fankhanel and family for their generous donation," Commissioner John Carlson said during the meeting.
A public hearing was recently held on both properties, during which members of the public shared their opposition to the Quello Property and support for the Crown Property.
鈥淚t鈥檚 been a lot of work for a lot of people and it hasn鈥檛 been easy,鈥� shared District 2 Commissioner Joe Gould. 鈥淚 also want to thank the citizens for coming forward and letting us know their thoughts and opinions and offering suggestions.鈥�
Beltrami County had previously considered the Wiebolt Property for the location of the new county jail. However, following opposition from the public the county withdrew its purchase agreement in July .
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After hearing the public鈥檚 feedback, the county adjusted its scoring criteria to consider a broader definition of community impact. After a moratorium was issued by the local zoning authority, the county has also disqualified properties zoned as residential from consideration.
Several commissioners expressed their hope that the Crown Property would be the final choice for the jail鈥檚 location and that the community would support the decision and the jail project moving forward.
鈥淚 look at this as almost the beginning again,鈥� shared District 3 Commissioner Richard Anderson. 鈥淚 hope that the community now, once the site is selected, will get behind what we need to do to get this constructed.鈥�
Contingencies in the donation agreement include that the site must be used for the construction of a jail and that the county has a 90-day due diligence period to do a final evaluation of the property鈥檚 suitability.
鈥淲e will certainly want to do our due diligence,鈥� Barry explained. 鈥淎s generous as this donation has been, we鈥檒l want to make sure that we鈥檙e not accepting a property that doesn鈥檛 work for some reason, (like) if there was something with the property that would prevent it from being used for a jail.鈥�
A project for a new jail was approved by the county board last November after the Department of Corrections found in 2019 that the county鈥檚 current facility no longer meets standards.
The budget for a new jail has been set at a maximum of $80 million. The county is pursuing a local option sales tax to help fund the project, which will be presented to voters to approve during November鈥檚 general election.
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