Joint project by cities moves rapidly
By HECTOR CASTRO
P-I REPORTER
Several cities in South King County announced Thursday an agreement to build a new jail to hold people accused of or serving sentences for misdemeanor crimes, and they have already selected a vacant 14-acre lot in Des Moines as the new jail’s home.
ONLINE
For information on the plans for the new jail, visit www.SCOREjail.org
TOWN MEETINGS
The project has moved much more swiftly than a similar one being planned to serve Seattle and cities in north and east King County.
Those cities still are trying to find a place to build their new jail and convince the public that one is even needed. It was just last year that Seattle and the other cities agreed to work together on a common jail rather than build two.
But Penny Bartley, interim director of the South King County cities group, said her organization has been able to make progress because it has been working together longer than the other cities. The group is the South Correctional Entity, or SCORE.
“The thing to keep in mind is that the SCORE cities have been working together for about two years,” Bartley said. “We have put a lot of time and a lot of resources into this.”
The cities involved include Auburn, Burien, Des Moines, Federal Way, Renton, SeaTac and Tukwila.
Together, they plan to build a single-story 668-bed jail in Des Moines. Development and construction is estimated to cost $80.5 million. Construction is expected to start in September.
“It seems ambitious, but we think it’s doable,” Bartley said.
The jail will be built on land at South 208th Street and 18th Avenue South, vacant property the Port of Seattle owns.
For the past 40 years, George Carns, 78, has lived on 15th Avenue South, near the proposed jail site.
The land, what he called a jungle, has for years been a haven for transients and drug users who ignore “No Trespassing” signs and clamber over a fence to get in.
Carns is not pleased about plans for the jail.
“They don’t need to build them in the neighborhoods,” Carns said. “We’ve got enough traffic here and noise.”
To date, plans have moved along without much public input. Bartley said the councils of the cities involved have held hearings before joining the agreement to build the jail, and some input has been taken as a result of those meetings.
But public meetings specifically to address the jail, and related questions or concerns, are expected to be held in April, Bartley said.
All cities in King County are looking for a place to house their misdemeanor inmates, people accused or convicted of crimes such as DUI, assault, domestic violence, property crimes or traffic offenses.
Historically, the King County Jail would hold these inmates. But the county alerted cities in 2000 that it would run out room for misdemeanor inmates by 2012. That has become the target date for cities to build a new jail.
Bartley said that even now, King County cannot handle the inmate load. City leaders have sought alternative and deferred sentences for inmates and, in many cases, paid to have them housed elsewhere, including the Yakima County Jail.
“We’ve all come up with a bunch of short-term fixes to this long-term problem,” she said.
“The ultimate solution is expansion.”
P-I reporter Hector Castro can be reached at 206-448-8334 or hectorcastro@seattlepi.com.
