Wednesday, November 29, 2000
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Wednesday, November 29, 2000 |
| Design work on judicial
complex almost finished
By DAVE
HAMRICK A design for the planned new Fayette County Jail and Courthouse complex should be in hand next month, said County Commissioner Greg Dunn. Dunn has been appointed liaison to work with companies designing and building the $58 million project. "We are at the 85 percent complete stage for the design work, and we think we'll get it done in December," said Dunn. "We have tons of drawings already," he added. And so far there have been no big surprises, thanks to months of preliminary work, he said. Staff people and elected officials with the Sheriff's Department, the courts and the county spent hours going over specifications for the project before preliminary designs were approved. "Everything is coming right up the way we think it should," said Dunn. "We did a lot of work prior to beginning the design, and now that prior work is paying off," he added. Plans for the complex include adding two new housing pods, each holding 192 inmates, to the existing county jail. The existing jail would then be renovated to provide maximum security for those accused of violent crimes. One of the new pods would house medium-security inmates, while the other would be a dormitory-type facility for status offenders. Total capacity of all three pods would be 459 inmates, with space set aside for two additional 192-prisoner pods in case they should be needed in the future. Plans also include building a new three-story courthouse facility next to the jail, and connecting jail and courthouse with an underground passageway so prisoners can be transported to court sessions without the additional risk of taking them outside. The courthouse will include state-of-the-art security, with cameras at all entrances. When designers finish their work, county officials will have about 450 architectural drawings to review, he said. "So far, everything is coming right on schedule," he said. In the next phase, consultants will begin the work of preparing bids for construction of the jail.
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