Some residents in Swain County are questioning the county commissioners’ judgment in selecting a location for a new $10.4 million jail and sheriff’s office.

Swain County commissioners currently favor a 10-acre tract diagonally across the road and up the hill from Ingles grocery store. The site is surrounded by commercial and residential development in the Bryson City town limits.

Opponents say the county should choose a site along U.S. 23-74, a divided four-lane highway where it won’t bother any neighbors. The in-town site uses one of the last pieces of prime commercial property in town, opponents say.

“We need a jail. Ours is old and dilapidated. There’s no doubt about that,” said Jim Douthit, a former county commissioner and employee at Duke Power. “But this is a potential development property that could be used for commercial value.”

While commissioners say they have not formally decided on a location for the jail, the tract across from Ingles was named as the building site in a loan application by the county. The commissioners formally voted to submit the loan application to a federal rural development program, and the preferred site was in the application.

Four pages of the application provide information on the site, indicating the county has done at least some environmental and survey work in preparing the loan application. It describes the slope and topography of the land, soil types, vegetation characteristics, and streams. If the commissioners decide on a new site, they will have to submit a new application.

In the application, the county states that they have considered other locations and that this site is the best one, citing it “is the closest to Bryson City and had more utilities and better vehicle access.”

Those same reasons are why some residents say the site should be saved for commercial development.

“That is one of the last commercially developable locations in Bryson City. I think it is not the best use of that land,” Mary Ellen Hammond, a parent in Swain County. “I think that the county would regret putting a jail there over the long term.”

Residents opposed to the location also want to know what other sites were considered.

“I’d like to know where they are at and why they think this one is better,” said Donny Dixon, a former county commissioner and employee at ConMet.

Dixon said the public has been left out of the process.

“The way they’ve done it is keep it quiet,” said Dixon.

The commissioners have selected a location, decided how big to make the jail, drawn up preliminary architectural plans, decided how much it will cost, and applied for a loan in less than five months.

“It caught me off guard and I guess it caught other people off guard, too,” Douthit said. Douthit said he does not think other sites have been fully explored.

Commissioner David Anthony said former boards of commissioners have put off building a new jail for too long. The 1920’s era jail has a basement that floods, roofs that leak, cell doors that don’t work properly, no sprinkler system, and electrical wiring that won’t allow portable heaters and computers to be on at the same time.

“They’ve (past commissioners) avoided the issue. With the board we have now, we have the frame of mind where you have to step up to the plate and do something,” Anthony said. “Wherever it goes there are going to be some controversies.”

The county put together a committee to study potential locations and how big the new jail should be. The committee only met twice and an architect has already drawn up a preliminary design.

The jail is currently slated to cost about $10.4 million and have 144 beds. The jail would be twice as large as Jackson County’s new jail and nearly as large as Haywood County’s. But Swain Sheriff Bob Ogle said Jackson’s jail has reached capacity and Haywood’s will be almost full the day it opens. The extra space in Swain’s jail could house inmates from neighboring counties — namely Graham, which can hold only 10 inmates — and the Eastern Band of Cherokee.

The size is being questioned by some residents, however. The Eastern Band is implementing a house arrest program that places non-dangerous criminals in their homes with ankle sensors while awaiting trial instead of being in jail. The Graham County Sherriff said he hopes their county will build a new jail in the near future.

A public hearing on the jail was held Tuesday night (July 19) after The Smoky Mountain News went to press. The public hearing was required as part of the loan application to the federal rural development program. Comments from the public hearing must be submitted with the loan application. It was not known whether the commissioners planned to formally vote on the jail location at the public hearing.

Some opponents were planning on attending, but said it seems like the commissioners have already made up their minds.

“They’re going to do it as the say ‘come hell or high water,’” Dixon said.

See next week’s issue for a tour of the old jail and an account of the public hearing.