Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 3, 1995 TAG: 9506050032
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-6 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
The site for the jail, which will serve Pulaski, Giles and Grayson counties and Radford, likely will be located near Dublin.
Thompson & Litton, the engineering firm hired by the New River Valley Regional Jail Authority, has surveyed four possible sites in that area and eliminated one. It will study a fifth site in the next few weeks.
The authority reviewed the proposed sites for 40 minutes Friday in closed session.
The selection decision apparently will fall to the Pulaski County Board of Supervisors, which does not meet until June 26. However, information on the potential sites will be sent to each supervisor before then.
A new state law effective in July requires a local governing body to give its approval before any corrections facility can be built within its borders. That requirement probably does not apply to this project, which has been in the works for several years and had state approval before the law was passed, but the authority wants Pulaski County's approval in any case.
A planning study, which ideally should include the selected site, must be submitted to the state Department of Corrections by the end of June.
The state is to pay half of the construction cost of the regional jail. The project was included barely in time to qualify for 50 percent matching funds. Now, the state pays a maximum of 25 percent on regional jail projects.
Thompson & Litton evaluated all of the potential sites to secure geo-technical data, develop preliminary grading plans, and determine the cost of electricity, water and sewer.
Bill King, a Thompson & Litton representative, said the planning study can be sent to the state without naming the specific site but it would have to include projected costs for site development. Without a definite site, the study would have to rely on the engineering firm's best professional judgment of what those costs would be.
by CNB