Petition Against the New Whitley County Jail location

A new Whitley County Jail location has been chosen, an estimated 39 million dollar project, all put together without feedback from our community. The land chosen was located in Armstrong Park, a multi million dollar Corporate Subdivision which is home to Bones Theater, a Retirement/Assisted living facility, Patterson Family Dentistry, Whitley County Council on Aging, and Parkview After hours clinic. Major issues that are being voiced by our community are the deception that was involved when property owners were manipulated into signing off their property rights under the guise of the property owner just needing to sell off a piece of the subdivision. What was not disclosed at the time the new covenants were presented to these property owners was that the purpose of removing this parcel from the protective covenants was to place a Jail on the parcel. Other major issues are the lack of transparency with the community. Not one press release was sent out notifying the community of the new location, instead things were all done at very quiet commissioner and council meetings that all take place during the day when most citizens are working. There are also safety issues with the location due to lack of sidewalks, only one entry/exit to jail property, poor lighting and prisoners released on foot next to child and senior related facilities. Additionally, sheriff vehicles would have to get through 4 turns before they could reach a main road to respond to calls. The effect on property values (current jail located in an area where average assessed value is $150,000 new location average assessed value is between 1 and 1.5 million) is also a huge concern to business owners This location is completely inappropriate. There are other options that commissioners have refused to consider. View more concerns at whitleyjail.com