The Virginian-Pilot 
                             THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Wednesday, March 27, 1996              TAG: 9603270410
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY TONI WHITT, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH                         LENGTH: Short :   45 lines

PORTSMOUTH VOTES TO CONSTRUCT LAUNDRY FACILITY FOR CITY'S JAIL MORE RENOVATIONS ARE ON HOLD UNTIL A REGIONAL JAIL IS DONE.

The city wants its inmates to come clean in a new $400,000 work release facility on Frederick Boulevard.

The City Council unanimously voted on Tuesday to build a new laundry facility for the jail on a city compound. The new site will allow the city to move the old facility out of the jail, making room for a needed expansion to the jail's kitchen.

The city had planned to do a more extensive renovation to the jail to add beds for more inmates and some sort of recreation facilities for the inmates, but those plans have been put on hold until after the new regional jail is completed in Portsmouth. City officials hope that the regional jail will alleviate overcrowding in the city jail.

In the meantime, 64 inmates a day will get fresh air on their way to the new laundry facility where they will spend part of their incarceration washing sheets, towels and the bright official-orange jump suits.

In other business, the council and the city's planning commission held a joint public hearing on Portsmouth's capital improvement plan. No one spoke during the public hearing.

The planning commission will discuss the plan at its meeting on April 2 and will then make its recommendations to the council.

The proposed capital budget includes $4 million in city funds for the I.C. Norcom High School project and another $4 million in city funds for a variety of municipal projects. The bulk of the money is designated for the city's economic development plan, Vision 2005, including $1.8 million for the new High Street Landing and ferry dock. Also included are several neighborhood drainage projects for the Brighton/South Portsmouth area, Simonsdale and North Truxtun.

The council will hold a work session on its operating budget on April 8 and will include time for the capital improvement budget during that work session, if needed. A public hearing is scheduled for April 9 on the operating budget.

KEYWORDS: PORTSMOUTH CITY JAIL PORTSMOUTH CITY COUNCIL by CNB