Tamara Barak Aparton, The Examiner
2008-07-28 10:00:00.0
Current rank: Not ranked

San Mateo County -

Facing resistance from neighbors and dwindling funds from the state, San Mateo County officials are poised at the precipice of controversy: picking its new jail site.

The problem of jail overcrowding is not new. The overburdened facilities have been derided in three grand jury reports in the last four years. But in the next several weeks, officials are expected to narrow down their choices to a small handful of sites, Lt. Deborah Bazan said.

At their current inmate population levels, San Mateo County’s jails aren’t suited for providing adequate vocational training, education or drug rehabilitation, Supervisor Mark Church said. The Maguire Correctional Facility in Redwood City is rated for 688 inmates, but has a daily population exceeding 1,000. The women’s jail, a few miles away but also in Redwood City, is rated for 84 prisoners, but had 135 last week.

“It’s a liability issue and it puts the safety of inmates and deputies at risk,” Church said. “The situation is extremely dire.”

Adding to the frustration, the county’s application for $100 million in state funding to build the new jail was denied in May.

But jail proponents may be in for a serious fight. To save on inmate transportation costs and for security purposes, county supervisors and jail staff said they prefer sites near the courts in Redwood City.

That doesn’t sit well with residents of the city, who say they have shouldered their fair share of correctional facilities and rehabilitation programs. No More Jails in Redwood City — a grass-roots group headed by former Mayor Georgi LaBerge and planning commissioner Nancy Radcliffe — has sprung up.

Mayor Rosanne Foust said she’ll continue talking to county supervisors, but the community is dead set against another jail — particularly near downtown.

“We’ve just spent so much to enhance and beautify downtown,” Foust said. “We’ve never been against them upgrading a low-rise women’s facility, but in terms of a new facility housing men and women, we don’t have feasible locations.”

While the decision ultimately belongs to county supervisors, sheriff’s officials will embark on a massive public-information campaign after a site is chosen.

“I think people are envisioning razor wire and cyclone fences, and that’s not what it’s going to be,” Bazan said. “What they watch on TV is not what jails are anymore.”

County weighs sites, worries

When residents of the Highlands neighborhood in San Mateo found out that it was on the list of possible sites for a new jail for adult men and women, they were less than pleased.

“We had a meeting with neighbors and we certainly heard from them about it,” San Mateo County Supervisor Mark Church said.

Along with the Highlands neighborhood, authorities are eyeing several other areas for the site of a possible new jail, including a location near the busy Broadway Street commercial district in Redwood City and the county’s law library, also in Redwood City.

Jail officials said that the law library is convenient, since it is partially county owned and connects to the courthouse by bridge, making inmate transportation easy.

But with Redwood City’s efforts to revive their downtown area, the Broadway Street location “doesn’t make sense,” Church said.

Options that are likely to emerge at the top of the list are the current site of the women’s jail in Redwood City and two nearby lots on Maple Street.

tbarak@sfexaminer.com

Where to build the new jail?

County officials will be narrowing down their choices in the next month. Here are some of the properties being evaluated.

Option 1

Small claims court/county administration building

Location: Downtown Redwood City, adjacent to the existing courthouse and government center

Pros: County-owned, proximity to courts, can accommodate three levels of housing and support

Cons: Planned for alternate use, community and city opposition, no expansion potential, off-site parking required

Option 2

County law library

Location: Redwood City, adjacent to the existing county courthouse

Pros: Proximity to courts, one-third county-owned, bridge connection to the courthouse

Cons: Community and city opposition, borders busy Broadway Street, off-site parking required, no expansion potential, acquisition could be costly and time consuming

Option 3

Peninsula Humane Society

Location: 12 Airport Blvd., San Mateo

Pros: Larger site, county-owned, expansion potential

Cons: Community opposition, competing use by Coyote Point Park advocates, easements and flood plane, 10 miles from courts

Option 4

County Tower Road Complex

Location: San Mateo, near juvenile court and detention complex

Pros: Larger site area, county-owned, expansion potential

Cons: Extreme community opposition after a juvenile homicide suspect escaped into neighborhoods last year, competing county development, greater distance to courts

Option 5

Women’s Correctional Center

Location: 1590 Maple St., Redwood City, 1½ miles north of the courthouse and adjacent to U.S. Highway 101

Pros: County-owned, proximity to courts, no known opposition

Cons: May require a parking structure

Option 6

Parcel adjacent to Redwood City police administration building

Location: Maple Street, 1½ miles north of the courthouse

Pros: City-owned, close proximity to courts, no known opposition

Cons: May require parking structure, competing development plans by city, up to 30 percent wetlands

Option 7

Chemical Way, Redwood City

Location: Sits on other side of Redwood City police administration building from the Women’s Correctional Center

Pros: Close proximity to courts, no known opposition

Cons: Costly and time-consuming acquisition, possible hazardous waste, wetlands