BEMIDJI 鈥� The Beltrami County Board of Commissioners held a public hearing during its meeting on Tuesday to listen to community members鈥� thoughts on two newly proposed locations for the new county jail.
Of the two locations, known as the Crown and Quello properties, residents who attended the meeting overwhelmingly asked the board to take the Quello property out of consideration and saw the Crown property as the better option.
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Both properties are located in southeastern Bemidji, with the 9.2-acre Crown property situated on Pioneer Street Southeast with secondary access to Railroad Street Southeast and the 10-acre Quello property on Carr Lake Road Southeast.
The properties are also zoned for industrial use, making them eligible for a jail following a moratorium by the Greater Bemidji Area Joint Planning Board that prohibits the construction of jails on residentially zoned parcels.
The county had previously considered the Wiebolt Property off of Jefferson Avenue for the location of the new county jail, however, the community expressed its disapproval of the location and the county withdrew its purchase agreement.
Much of the opposition to the property related to its location near a residential area including South Lake Irving and concerns from the public that it was too far removed from essential services in downtown Bemidji.
County Administrator Tom Barry shared that both of these new site options have been under discussion with their respective owners, and if the county chooses one over the other the Quello property could be purchased for $360,000 or the Crown property could be donated to the county as a gift by its owner.
Several community members who live or work near the Quello property came to speak to the county board and encourage them to no longer consider it for the site of the new jail. These included those who operated child care businesses and services for vulnerable adults.
A spokesperson for the neighborhood also shared a statement on behalf of residents in the area, citing concerns about traffic, home values and safety.
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鈥淚 can assure you that if any of the residents of Carr Lake Road were to sell (their homes), their buyer would absolutely consider the position of the jail when looking at our houses,鈥� explained Dean Suther. 鈥淥ur property values and resale values will drastically decrease.鈥�
Suther also shared that the Quello property would be more difficult to develop, being heavily wooded compared to the Crown property and that the possibility of the other land being donated makes it the better financial decision.
鈥淪urely that makes the Crown property much more cost-effective for the county,鈥� Suther said. 鈥淚f it鈥檚 between these two properties, we hope that you can see why the Crown property is a much better option than the Quello property."
While the Crown and Quello properties were the primary topics during the public hearing, other members of the community shared that they believed placing the jail downtown would be the better option.
Jim Parish advocated for the county to use eminent domain to capture the block north of the current facility.
鈥淲e talked about how we can鈥檛 have it downtown, however, I think that the displacement of the homes and businesses north of the jail would be much less of an impact in all respects and costs (compared to other locations),鈥� Parish said.
Barry informed the audience that the county has examined locations downtown, but that none of them have met the needs of the project and have the additional obstacle of being residentially zoned.
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鈥淭he problem here is that (the block north of the jail) is not large enough. Additionally, it would require the loss of those 15 homes and businesses,鈥� Barry explained. 鈥淭hat block is also residentially zoned, so essentially it鈥檚 now off the table.鈥�
The county has considered downtown locations including parking lots and the Central 歪歪漫画 site, Barry shared, but each has had similar issues of size and residential zoning.
Barry also took the time to address other concerns about moving the jail away from the downtown area, including whether costs for transportation to court hearings would increase and whether it would impact access to services.
鈥淭here has been a massive movement toward remote or televised court, so right now about 80% of inmates are participating in remote court,鈥� Barry said.
Barry also shared that 90% of inmates have transportation when they are released and that the sheriff鈥檚 office is willing to put in a policy for those that don鈥檛 to instead release them at the law enforcement center downtown.
The project for a new jail was approved by the county board in November 2022 after the Department of Corrections found in 2019 that the county鈥檚 current facility no longer meets standards.
The budget for the project has been set at $80 million, and the county is pursuing a local option sales tax to help fund the project. The option to approve the tax will be presented to voters during November鈥檚 general election.
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