The DeKalb County Commission experienced a bit of sticker shock during a Jail Committee meeting on February 27, with architects presenting three different plans with cost estimate for a proposed justice center.

At the meeting, John Eisenlau of Treanor Architects and Rick Bruining of Bell Construction presented the jail committee’s request for three different options for the proposed facility, a 150, 190, and 225 bed option, with variations on each option.

The three bed number options were presented in two ways, with shell space for future expansion, and with no shell space added. Shell space would be building the exterior shell of the building, but not the interior, allowing for future growth should it be needed.

The cost of a 150-bed facility with shell space was estimated at $65,317,500, and $57,317,500 without shell space. A 190-bed facility was estimated at $67,817,500 with shell space, and $63,817,500 without, and a 225-bed facility came in at a whopping $70,317,500.

The projected cost of the courtroom complex would be $11,550,000 and the estimated design services fees based on 6 percent of the construction value is $3,000,000. These numbers do not include whatever the cost may be to purchase property for the project, if necessary.

The estimates came with site plans for each project, and a mockup of the facility layout and parking plan. The plans were based on a certain desired acreage for the different plans.

“This gives you a general sense of the size of the building and how it would lay out on the land,” said Eisenlau. “What we were asked to do was show what a building that has roughly 150 individuals (prisoners) would look like and if you had 190 individuals or 225; how much property is needed; and a rough estimate of the cost. We use some simple benchmarking when we do projects like this. We usually have a rough idea what the square footage is but your building based on everything you see on paper here today will probably not look exactly like this because we have not had a lot of time to talk to the sheriff’s department or the judiciary on how it would function. We typically do that over the course of a couple months but when I was asked to give it my best shot, 30 days later this is it as to what it may or may not look like,” said Eisenlau.

Different layouts were also presented with both single story and two-story building options shown. Each would include inmate housing facilities, three courtrooms, sheriff’s offices, and parking areas altogether consisting of 100,000 square feet on 13.5 to 8 acres. Eisenlau said a two-story structure is usually about 12-15% less in cost due to sharing walls and structure.

The estimated cost of the project seemed to hit several commissioners hard, with several expressing that the county just can not afford such a huge investment. Commissioner Tom Chandler asked about whether the whole facility could be built in one structure, stacking three stories tall.

It was an idea the architects said they could certainly look into, indicating that it could save a significant amount of money and lower the acreage footprint needed. It was then asked if the design could be looked at on the existing site of the jail now.

“There are a lot of people in the county that either think we can modify the existing building (jail annex) or that’s where it should be because they would like to see it downtown. I think it behooves us as a commission to show those people whether that would work or not and what the cost would be compared with other options we have looked at. Unless I am wrong in my vision of what that piece of property looks like there is no way we can build something next to what we have without either having the school board building and veterans building or that other piece of property there we don’t own. Consider if you had that whole block what could you do,” said Commissioner Tom Chandler.

Architects then suggested the facility could be built in phases, building a jail portion first, then adding offices and courtrooms at a later date. “We laid the building out this way largely because if you choose just to build the jail now, which you could with the jail operations and the housing, you could add the courts and the sheriff’s operation at a later date. This scheme is expandable like a campus type plan,” said Eisenlau.

According to the county’s fiscal agent Steve Bates, the costs for a $57,315,000 project (for the 150-bed option) would require either a 59 cent (property tax increase) to amortize a $3,595,000 debt or a combination $50 wheel tax and 41 cent property tax increase.

If the county were to choose the $70,317,500 option for a 225-bed facility, a 72-cent property tax hike would be needed to amortize a $4,410,000 debt or it could be funded through a $50 wheel tax and a 54-cent property tax increase, according to Bates.

“I’m not ready to vote on anything until we explore our options because I don’t know if the county can afford this right now, but I think the existing jail site is a good option to at least explore. If we can put it on the existing site, I think it will help us a lot especially if we can put the courtrooms above it for the criminal court cases and keep the courthouse for the civil cases,” said Commissioner Tony Luna.

“Given these numbers, I’m not sure we can afford this. If we built 100 beds out from where we are at now on another piece of property out there, and then tear down what we have now and build back there we could possibly phase it in,” said Commissioner Larry Green.

“I agree with Larry,” said Commissioner Andy Pack. “We are in this situation because the jail is not meeting state requirements. That’s what we need to be concentrating on is the jail itself. The people I have talked to in the sixth district and others are not sold on this idea. They are strongly wanting us to try to make that existing property work,” he said.

“Some of these alternative measures of building here or there, to the left or right just shakes my soul as the only person here to ever run a criminal justice center on the functionality and safety of everybody who is going to work there,” said Commissioner Greg Matthews.

Also at the meeting, County Mayor Matt Adcock announced Jerry Dwayne Foster has expressed selling 57.59 acres near Allen’s Ferry Road behind Bizee Mart to the county for $1.3 million. The property is currently not in the city limits as required for a judicial center, but could be annexed by the city.