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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLARIMER COUNTY DETENTION CENTER, FACILITY EXPANSION - SITE PLAN ADVISORY REVIEW - 8-98 - MEDIA - CORRESPONDENCE-HEARING0 County. refuses city sidewalk around jail By SIEVE PORTER The Cobradoan It wasWlb-.battle of the sidewalk, and the county was taking no prisoners Monday night. Co_ cammissioners vote `unammously in a specral meeting to overrule a ote last week by the Fox7ollins Planning and Zoning Board that rejected a county plan to end the Larimer County Iye- tention Center, 2405 Mid- point Drive. A ; The planning a1iBzoning board on Marctt'18 ' to reject the p Ap;Z$12 million expan" "& the detention centeri' because the county refused to put in a sidewalk along. Mid- point Drive. Sidewalk Cowed from Page Al Before Monday night's vote, Sheriff Richard Shockley said putting in a sidewalk would threaten security outside of the de- tention center. "We don't have foot traf- fic there on purpose be- cause we don't want inter- action with the general public," he said " ro'put a sidewalk on land contigu- put in, Shockley said, the county likely would have to build a fence along Midpoint Drive, making it look more like a prison. "Our intent for the last 15 years has been to maintain a facility that doesn't look like a jail," he said . County Attorney George Hass. said the county did not need to have its plan reviewed by the city's planning and zoning board but did so in a spirit of coopera- tion. . "It was a matter of courtesy .to give them input," Hass said. But senior city planner Ted Shepard said the city does have statutory authority to review, projects built within city limits. Shepard.=said sidewalks are' re- quired by city code. "We make sidewalk connections a high priority under City Plan," 1 Shepard said. Shepard said Fort Collins police i chief Dennis Harrison advised the city that adding a sidewalk would ous to a jail is to invite peo- ple into that area and begin to erode our entire security." Shockley said the deten- tion center, built in 1983, relies on camera surveil- lance of the outside of the facility that reacts to move- ment. If a sidewalk is See SIDEWALK, Page AS not affect the security of a deten- tion center. Harrison confirmed that stance Monday before the county vote. "Try as I may, I don't see itas a security issue," Harrison said "It's just a difference of opinion be- tween myself and the sheriff." Shockley said Monday night he wasn't budging on his view that a sidewalk would jeopardize seta city. "If you're not involved in the day -today operations of it, you may ,have an opirdon, but that's all it is," he said - Shockley said he agreed ,to .meet 41 of 42 landuserequire- ments by the city regarding the detention center expansion ,.but would not agree to a sidewalk. :'Im not going to jump through, that hoop because it's my facility, to,iun," he said The` county plans ''tol. gbreak ground April 10 on the detention center. expansion. County facili- ties director Dave Spencer said any delay in the project would cost between $6,000 and $10,000 per month.