By DAVE HAMRICK
Staff Writer

If you have any thoughts on the controversial plans for a new Fayette County Jail and courthouse in downtown Fayetteville, tomorrow night is the time to air them.

County commissioners will have a public hearing Thursday, Jan. 6 at 7 p.m. in their meeting room at the County Administrative Complex, 140 Stonewall Ave., Fayetteville.

The meeting is likely to be a long one.

“We'll stay here until sunrise if that's what it takes,” vowed commission Chairman Harold Bost when the hearing was announced last month.

The county government has purchased land to add to the county's previously owned acreage around the current jail and judicial complex, creating a 65-acre tract on which they hope to put the jail and courthouse with plenty of room left over for a future county administrative office building.

The acreage is bordered by Lee Street on the west, Johnson Avenue on the north and Jimmy Mayfield Boulevard on the east (there's no street bordering the complex on the south).

But opponents say the site is too close to homes and schools, and complain that traffic problems will be exacerbated and property devalued in the downtown area if the project goes on as planned.

Some have suggested moving the jail outside the city, leaving only the courthouse at the proposed site, while others say the entire complex should be moved to Fayetteville's heavily commercial areas north of downtown.

Commissioners say they'll listen with open minds to everyone's suggestions, but Bost said commissoners are unlikely to change their minds unless presented with “compelling arguments.”

County officials will present details on the current plan tomorrow before taking public comment.

“We're going to try to make it as clear as we possibility can, and we want [the information presented] to be as complete and as right as we possibly can,” said Bost.

According to the plan, the existing jail will be renovated to house only maximum security prisoners, and two pods (one medium security and one minimum security) will be added, increasing its holding capacity from 75 currently to 459 when finished.

The design includes two future pods that, if built, would eventually increase the jail's capacity to 843.

Underground passages will connect the jail and new courthouse, and the current judicial center will be renovated and used as Sheriff's Department offices.

Options for financing the construction also will be discussed. A special purpose local option sales tax is one option, along with various kinds of bond issue. County commissioners also recently activated the county's facilities authority, which could issue bonds to pay for the construction without seeking voter approval, but have not yet named members to the authority.