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SALT LAKE CITY — With potential sites for a new state prison in Salt Lake County becoming public, opposition is growing from nearby residents and local government officials.
"I think it's going to be a hard sell wherever it ends up going," Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams said Friday. "It's worth taking the time, whatever time it takes, to get it right."
Even if that means the decision where to relocate the aging Utah State Prison at Point of the Mountain isn't made during the 2015 Legislature, the county mayor said.
But the co-chairman of the Legislature's Prison Relocation Commission, Rep. Brad Wilson, R-Kaysville, said while community concerns are important, a site still has to be selected.
"The prison has to go somewhere," Wilson said. "It's a tough issue. I get it. I understand that people are not enamored with the idea" of being near a prison. "We'll do our best to minimize those impacts."
The commission had announced on Oct. 22 there were four finalists that would be made public this week for the $450 million project. Wilson told the Deseret News Thursday those sites need more study and could end up being rejected.
The commission is expected to make a recommendation to lawmakers in the upcoming legislative session for a new prison location. The move would free up around 700 acres of prime real estate for development.
There's a sense of frustration at the thought that the state would consider putting a prison complex in our community. It's just surprising.
–Westpointe Community Council Chairman Erin Youngberg
A map from Salt Lake City officials shows three sites within the city limits near the Salt Lake City International Airport that were on the commission's short list — with a site in Saratoga Springs already being opposed by residents and city officials there.
Two of the sites west of the airport involve about 250 acres of undeveloped land owned by Kennecott Utah Copper. The other site is north of the airport and near homes in Westpointe, a neighborhood adjacent to Rose Park.
The city is "staunchly opposed" to the sites, Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker's spokesman, Art Raymond, said. He said the city already has "a disproportionate number of state and federal confinement and transition facilities."
Westpointe Community Council Chairman Erin Youngberg circulated a copy of the city's map along with an email urging residents to contact members of the commission about the site located near baseball diamonds.
"There's a sense of frustration at the thought that the state would consider putting a prison complex in our community. It's just surprising," Youngberg said, noting all of the Salt Lake County sites are within the Westpointe Community Council boundaries.
But while the Kennecott property and the land surrounding it also under consideration are "kind of swampy," the site north of the airport, at about 2200 North, is near some homes, he said.
"There are cattle out there grazing now," Youngberg said. "There's residential all around it." About 500 of the roughly 10,000 people within the community council boundaries live close to the proposed site, he said.
What the community wants is certainly important to me. I represent the people of Salt Lake County and I'm going to represent their views to the Legislature.
–Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams
McAdams served on the Prison Relocation and Development Authority that decided earlier this year to recommend the prison be moved. He was the sole vote against the move and said he still has concerns.
"If we're creating jobs on the south end of the valley and constraining growth in another location in the valley, that's something that would be concerning to me," the county mayor said, noting land near the airport is valuable, too.
He said he has yet to hear from state officials about the potential sites but will make sure they are aware of the issues being raised by county residents about being the site of a new prison.
"What the community wants is certainly important to me," McAdams said. "I represent the people of Salt Lake County and I'm going to represent their views to the Legislature."
In the end, he said, Salt Lake County may not be the best choice.
"While we are a major center of the population, we're not the only population base in this state," McAdams said. "I think there should be numerous sites on the table."
