A development team that submitted a proposal for building a new main jail said city-owned land on the Northside off Lannie Road could be the best site for it, though the team’s proposal said it would take more study for a final selection.
The city decided against using that unsolicited proposal from a group of three firms that laid out a framework for taking the project all the way from feasibility study through design and construction followed by a long-term lease of the jail back to the city.
While the city turned down the proposal, it does show what a team involved in the financing and construction of jails across the country views as a possible location for a new jail whose cost could be about $1 billion..
The area on the Northside, where the city owns several hundred acres, dovetails with the city’s long-standing identification of the area around the Montgomery Correctional Center off Lannie Road, north of Jacksonville International Airport, as a potential site for building a jail complex that replaces the main jail in downtown.
The city has not made any decision on a site, however, other than it won’t be in downtown and it would need space for a dormitory-style layout and room for expansion.
The next step will be to hire a firm that will do a feasibility study that lays out the process for selecting a site and what facilities will go on it.
Mayor Donna Deegan’s office, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, and the city’s procurement division will develop the request for proposals “and we expect it to hit the street in approximately one month,” city spokesman Phillip Perry said.
City Council member Will Lahnen also will be engaged in the process on behalf of City Council. Lahnen will be the main contact between council and the mayor’s office and the Sheriff’s Office while taking part in all “relevant planning meetings and discussions,” City Council President Randy White said.
Lahnen will give updates to the council and advocate for “transparency, fiscal responsibility and community input as plans are developed.”
“This is a multi-year, complex and significant undertaking for our city and council member Lahnen’s background, experience and commitment to public service make him well-suited to represent council in this capacity,” White said in announcing him as the council liaison.
A report issued last year by a special City Council committee recommended building a new jail complex that has an infirmary, mental health facility and services that will help inmates turn around their lives. The committee’s report did not identify a specific site.
A team comprised of Sustainability Partners, Ajax Building Company and HOK delivered a proposed public-private partnership to the city on March 19. The proposal touched on the site of a new jail by saying it could be on land bounded by Lannie Road and Ethel Road, but added the design process would guide selection of the “optimal site.”
The city did not seek the proposal from Sustainability Partners or ask it to recommend a site. State law would have allowed the city to move forward on that unsolicited proposal without seeking any other offers, or it could have sought other proposals for the same scope of work proposed by the Sustainability Partners team.
In an April 28 email, city Chief of Procurement Dustin Freeman notified Sustainability Partners about the city’s decision.
“We understand the level of effort and commitment it takes to form a team and propose a potential solution to a very important challenge facing our city,” Freeman wrote. “After careful review and consideration, through multiple discussions, it was determined that the best interest of the city is to competitively solicit this massive undertaking in phases.”
Perry said the city also received a second unsolicited proposal but did not accept it because the city had already decided to move forward by issuing a request for proposals.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Where will Jacksonville build new jail? City will seek firm to help answer that question
Reporting by David Bauerlein, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
