Regional jail topic of Bellevue meeting
Published 1:18 pm Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Should Bellevue be the site of a new regional jail? A meeting Thursday, Jan. 15 at Meydenbauer Center will discuss that and other aspects of the project as part of the environmental review portion of the process.
The meeting is being held by the North/East Cities (NEC) municipal jail planning group to gather information on the environmental review portion of the process to identify a site for a new regional misdemeanant jail.
The cities are planning for a single 640-bed municipal jail facility to replace the jail beds they are losing in King County jails when their contract with the county ends. The NEC is composed of 23 cities, including Bellevue.
Doors will open at 6 p.m. in Rooms 404 and 405 on Level 4 of the center, located at 11100 N.E. Sixth St. The meeting will continue until the close of comments.
At site in Bellevue at 555 116th Ave. N.E. is one of six under consideration. Others are:
* King County Jail Annex, southeast corner of the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Jefferson Street, Seattle
* Seattle north: 1600 W. Armory Way
* Seattle south: Highland Park Way Southwest & West Marginal Way Southwest
* Shoreline: 2545 N.E. 200th St. and
* Unincorporated King County: 13225 N.E. 126th Pl.
The Bellevue meeting will address any potential significant and adverse environmental impacts of building the new facility including but not limited to:
* Site selection, construction and operation of a regional jail facility at each site alternative;
* Land use regulatory and/or zoning changes that would be necessary in order to accommodate a regional jail facility at each site; and
* Future permits that would be required for construction and development of the jail facility at a selected site.
The preferred location for the new jail isn’t expected to be determined until 2010.
Written comments regarding the scope of the Environmental Impact Statement may be sent via e-mail at: MunicipalJailSEPA@Seattle.gov.
Submittal of written comments regarding the EIS scope may be made to Diane Sugimura, Director of Department of Planning and Development, c/o Andy Ishizaki, NEC Regional Municipal Jail EIS, 700 5th Avenue, Suite 5200, P.O. Box 94689, Seattle, WA 98124-4689, Phone: 206-233-2027.
Written comments must be received by Jan. 30, 2009.
More information: www.necmunicipaljail.org/
