Dave Taylor and Alex Modesitt, Tribune-Star
The Terre Haute City Council voted overwhelmingly Thursday night to reject rezoning of the Vigo County commissioners’ proposed Prairieton Road site for a new Vigo County jail.
Only councilman Don Morris, D-at large, supported the rezoning, in an 8-1 vote. He said he believed the site was best for a jail and that other development could co-exist with the facility on the site.
More than two dozen people spoke during about three hours of public comment before the vote. While a handful supported the site, most were overwhelmingly opposed to a jail on the former International Paper property on Prairieton Road.
Opponents cited the Riverscape group’s vision for continued recreational development along the Wabash River, concern about proximity to the Vigo County School Corp. Aquatic Center and questions about the environmental suitability of the location.
One speaker, James Kmetz, spoke in favor of rezoning, as he did last week, but also commended Riverscape for its work. At the same time he said, “It doesn’t have to be winner take all” for the organization, suggesting other development could succeed on the more-than-60-acre site. The jail complex and sheriff’s office would take up only about 20 acres.
Shawn Reinoehl of the Wabash Valley Building Trades Council urged the council to approve the rezoning, suggesting a delay would drive up the cost of a new jail already estimated at $57.5 million.
Independent mayoral candidate Pat Goodwin told the council that three environmental studies of the property since 2009 were limited in focus.
However, Tim Gobert of Patriot Engineering and Environment, whose firm conducted an analysis just last week, said that study “came back clear” with no contamination.
“I’m not saying it’s pristine,” he added.
But he described the property as no better or worse for “constructibility” than other local sites where major projects have been built in recent years.
While many refer to the site as being on the riverfront, Gobert said the river actually cannot be seen from the proposed jail site.
Councilwoman Martha Crossen, D-6th, said she doesn’t want to see the property used for any residential purpose without an assurance from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management that it is suitable for such a purpose, as Goodwin suggested.
With U.S. District Court Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson having ordered Vigo County to address overcrowding and unconstitutional conditions at its current jail, county officials have said they would have to select another site or challenge the decision in court if the council were to reject rezoning.
Terre Haute attorney Noah Gambill suggested it would be unlikely for a federal judge to act on a local zoning dispute.
But attorney Joe Chappelle of the Indianapolis law firm Barnes & Thornburgh said a state judge would consider whether a denial of rezoning constituted “frustration of a fundamental function of another unit of government.”
Michael Wright, the Vigo County attorney, said while federal law prohibits judges from ordering construction of a new jail, they can take action that would accomplish the same thing by reducing the current 268-bed cap on the existing jail or ordering it closed.