The Zoning Board of Appeals met on Monday, July 15th for a special use permit hearing in the City Hall meeting room. Ken Albright and Tom Clark were absent. Tim Farley was the Interim Chairman for the meeting. The meeting was being held to discuss a Special Use Permit for a potential location for the new jail. The proposed location was the East three acres of the industrial park.
The minutes were read from the March 25, 2019 meeting.
The oath was administered for those who signed in to speak.
A request for special use permit request is made by Jasper County with the purpose to construct the Jasper County Sheriff Department, the 911 dispatch and correctional facility. The location is on a lot in the Southtown Industrial Park the east three acres of lot 7 of that industrial park. It is currently zoned industrial. Governmental use by anyone other than the City of Newton is allowed only with a special use permit.
Chad Miller began the presentation with an explanation of the exact location of the purposed jail site. This would house the sheriff’s office which must be within city limits as Newton is the biggest city in Jasper County. 911 Dispatch and the correctional facility which is all part of the current jail.
Chad discussed the special use permit and the permitted uses for the location. The industrial park was developed in 2000 and there was no zoning in Newton at that time.
Shannon Woodard spoke about the issues with the existing jail. There was a recommendation to start over given the age of the facility and other things being seen within the facility. There was block wall splitting, plumbing issues, and settling issues within the structure found during the inspection of the current facility. Several locations were considered.
The lot proposed was being donated to the community. Shannon spoke about the conceptual designs. It would be a 7-9,000 sq ft facility, it would be aesthetically pleasing, the building would face the north with parking and access on the north side, and there would be fencing and visibility deterrent.
A question was asked about draining retention plans.
Jasper Jobs Inc offered the location with all the properties were made available in the park for review. The group chose to possibly bury themselves inside the park as far from residential locations as possible. Mr. Miller spoke about the lowest crime rate being the radius around the jail. Every year the jail and 911 dispatch get inspected.
Brandon Francis spoke about how the jail functions. He pointed out there have been concerns that have come up about living near the jail. He explained what a jail is and what a jail isn’t. In a prison there are unarmed correctional officers monitoring hundreds or more prisoners.
At the jail there is a lower ratio between the prisoners and the jail staff. He spoke about trustees and the only trustee he has ever had is someone who was serving time for driving on a suspended license. This person did work around the sheriff’s office and was in constant supervision of a correctional officer. As long as he is Sheriff, there will not be anyone with a violent crime or a felon as a trustee.
He spoke about the safety of the facility and cited the 1st grade classes touring the building. He stated it would not bother him a bit to have it near his neighborhood. He assures people that no matter the location of the jail they intend to be good neighbors. Any problems that would arise would be addressed.
He answered a question about whether the inmates get yard time. The only inmates that would receive any outside time is a trustee. There is no yard time for jail prisoners. He also assured people there would never be more than one person out.
He answered visiting hour questions. Wednesdays and Saturdays were visiting days. He explained if there was a church function going on there wouldn’t be anyone out.
Andre Leachman asked how many beds would be in the facility and whether out of county inmates would be housed. The idea would be around the same amount give or take some beds. The Sheriff and States Attorney addressed housing out of county inmates and stated sometimes other counties have overflow that would be here.
There is no yard time or outside time. They also spoke about the amount of time between sentencing and transporting to correctional facilities which is normally less than a week. Transport would be the same as now, with an armed officer and the inmate being handcuffed and shackled.
Tuesdays and Thursdays are court days. Normally only in the morning.
Visitation days were discussed again. The days of the week could be adjusted, however, the assigned visiting days are the only days allowed for visitors. The hours are 8 am to 2 pm. There are other restrictions as well.
Discussion was held about the amount of officers who would be utilizing the facility.
Dave Michl addressed the board. He stated he did not represent 100% of New Beginnings church as he did not know everyone’s thoughts but he does represent a large portion. They will be a direct next door neighbor. One of their big concerns is on Wednesday nights they have between 70-90 kids in attendance during the school year and he is afraid having the jail there would deter some of the children from being able to come. The states the youth program is doing the kids a lot of good.
Tom takes the bus around and picks up the kids and brings them to the church. He also states it is probably the only good meal some of them get during the week. He doesn’t want anything to deter the program.
He also states, “Would you want this jail built right next to your church?” He stated the acquired the lot behind them and they will now be on top of the jail. He does not like the idea of a retention pond because of mosquitos and other issues. He believes it should be built in phases where it is.
He thinks this would hamper their expansion and the good of the community they intend to do.
One of the members asked what they had bought and Dave showed them.
The storm drain situation was discussed.
Stan Vanetta spoke about the location and how the jail will be there long after Brandon retires.
He states a positive about if something happened at the church the sheriff’s office would only be a minute away.
He also cited the kids on Wednesday nights. He talks about the kids that walk along the road to and from the church on Wednesday night.
He states, “My concern is not with the prisoners or the inmates, but what about the people that come to town post bail maybe down from Cook County because one of their buddies got busted with meth or a trunk load of firearms or something and they just happen to be in the jail and need bailed out. What if somebody from out of town, Decatur, Cook County, East St. Louis somebody like that who has no respect for authority like the Sheriff, doesn’t care that there is a jail there, but they see these kids out in that back parking lot playing, which they do, we have Halloween, we have Youth Group, we have bible school we have all these events for the kids and they are allowed to be and they like to roam around. So if you had a seven year old kid or grandkid in some cases running around and some hoodlums from out of town came in and with no respect for anything would you want to see that and if you vote for this would you want your name to be on that and be responsible for what might happen to the kids.
Now, one other thing, I was gonna say that but I’m just gonna leave it there, but if the jail were already there and we came and we wanted to build a church right next to the jail, how many of you people would say that’s a great idea let’s let them build a church right next to the jail. So let’s flip flop it so the jail coming to the church no. The jail is already there but we need property for the church would we be discussing this stuff today. I don’t think we would.”
The attorney for the bank owning the biodiesel plant spoke stating the jail would potentially limit buyers for the biodiesel plant.
Shannon Woodard spoke again to provide a different perspective. He stated the low crime rate could be a potential for a prospective buyer. He also discussed the kids passing by the current jail every day without concern or issue. He addressed the issue of a church being next to the jail. He states, “It would seem to be that a church being located next to the facility would be a bigger billboard or a bigger platform to post a message that could be actually a broader area to reach people and without placing judgement if we are gonna classify the types of people that might be doing that for visitation or bail or otherwise that spectrum of people, I know there are ministries in this county already that serve the jail for that purpose so actually the location could prove beneficial not a deterrent. Just an opinion, a different perspective and to have someone driving from Chicago with bail money half loaded shouldn’t be driving could cause an accident. He could have that accident right here on the square on the way here or in Greenup on the way down, or in front of the IGA not necessarily in front of the jail.”
A person asked if there was an incident happened at the jail and there was church would the church be notified? Brandon said yes anyone close would probably be contacted.
There was other discussion about the facility, the church group meeting with the jail people, and other similar subjects.
Gary Johnson spoke about the lot and the 911 funds as well as Jasper Jobs. David Dow asked questions about various issues. about matters such as drainage, Chad Miller spoke about the issues and explained there are has been no design phase to save the taxpayer money, so conceptual work has been done but aside from basic things they are trying to be somewhat responsible with monies. All regulations and requirements have to be taken care of. It was also said by Shannon they have looked at the site and have decided issues could be overcome.
Ed Webb spoke about the feeling of giving up on the industrial site. The Mayor assured him they were not. The county board members has a possible quorum of one of the committees at the meeting so they were unable to speak about the issue due to open meetings act.
Ed also asked if this has been done in other counties. Chad stated it is advised to remove these entities from residential zones and move them as close to the edge of town as possible.
The crime rate was discussed in the area and the city police will not move.
The cost difference was discussed whether it would be more efficient to do renovations in phases or to build new.
Maxine asked the attorney if there will be challenges from the biodiesel plant. He said he can’t answer that now but if the board grants it then they have the right to appeal it. He stated he is not ruling out the possibility.
The vote was taken with the following responses.
David Dow made the motion. Maxine Calvert seconded it.
David Dow – yes
Maxine Calvert – yes
Vita Reich – abstain
Ed Webb – no
Tim Farley – yes
The motion failed due to a lack of 4 affirmative votes. Vita’s vote did not count as an affirmative vote due to the lack of four yes votes.
Chad Miller clarified the failing of the motions with the following explanation. “Article X of the Zoning Code of the City of Newton in section 40-10-4 requires the affirmative vote of at least four (4) members to authorize any Board of Appeals action. Last night as you know, there were 3 yes, 1 no, and 1 abstain vote. In light of the requirements of four (4) affirmative votes. The measure fails and the special use permit will not be granted. The Zoning Board of Appeals will sometime soon release Findings of Fact as part of a formal decision that will be consistent with how it voted.”
