ROCKINGHAM — The Windham County Sheriff's Department says it will not pursue placing the proposed Liberty Mill Justice Center in the building formerly known as the Chemco building in Bellows Falls.
In a news release on Monday afternoon, the department said the decision to not move forward with the location was based on various factors, including a recent engineering study.
The announcement came the day before Rockingham voters went to the polls to consider a nonbinding question on their opinion about whether the project should move ahead. On Tuesday, voters rejected the project, 1053-287.
The former paper mill was constructed in the 1920s. According to the executive summary of a building assessment by Brattleboro engineering firm Stevens and Associates, external lateral bracing will likely be needed to bring the building up to code.
Windham County Sheriff Keith Clark told The Commons recently that he is looking at other properties and locations in Westminster and Rockingham.
He said that “due diligence is the reason we asked for an engineering assessment - to find out what the building actually needed. It looks old, sure. But what is it actually like?”
As it turns out, Clark said that the Chemco building is not in bad shape.
But he does not have funding “at the moment” to hire an architectural firm for a plan that would determine the cost of bracing the structure, he said, nor did he know if it would be more cost effective to tear the building down.
Clark also said Monday he has contacted the National Institute of Corrections (NIC) to assist with the project. He added that the NIC will soon send an assessment team to the county.
The justice assessment team is the first of many steps in the process the NIC will assist with, Clark said.
Many functions, much contention
Clark had proposed transforming the former Chemco building, at the confluence of the Saxtons and Connecticut rivers in Bellows Falls, into a 57,000-square-foot space that would house law-enforcement facilities and functions, including regional emergency dispatch services, regional training space for law enforcement, an expanded sheriff's headquarters, and support services for prison inmates returning to the community.
Other proposed functions for the center have included housing state and federal detainees who are awaiting trial, along with state offenders awaiting sentencing. There also could be “transitional housing” for those who recently have been released from prison.
The plan has met with intense opposition in Bellows Falls, with many residents concerned about the justice center's potential impacts on Bellows Falls' safety, image, and tax base.
Clark said options for siting of the Justice Center are limited to towns with infrastructure that can provide 2,100 gallons a day for water and wastewater disposal for a “huge” septic system.
Clark told The Commons that he wouldn't say what alternative sites he is considering. Disclosing that information to the public, he said, would “hurt [his] ability to negotiate” and “keep costs down.”
Meanwhile, the Rockingham Planning Commission is also preparing to consider a proposed zoning bylaw change that would effectively prevent a project of this purpose and scope within town borders.
The commission will hold a public hearing at Town Hall on Wednesday, March 2 at 7 p.m. and invites further comments to Planning Commissioner Chuck Wise.