Two years after a contentious rezoning, land for a new jail in Amherst County remains undisturbed — although that will start to change this spring.
Heavy machinery will move onto the 125-acre site on Virginia 210 near U.S. 29 in April, with the actual building construction slated to begin in late summer to early fall.
The $50 million project will not be delayed in the state’s current funding crunch, said Chris Webb, the administrator for the Blue Ridge Regional Jail Authority.
The project is currently funded without using state dollars, Webb said. That money will be paid back from the state at the end of the project — almost three years out, when officials hope that state revenues have improved.
The project already has been through the state approval process as well, and Webb doesn’t foresee anything stalling the construction.
Webb met with designers Thursday to review the plans for the new building. It was just one of many meetings with the design team to incorporate ideas from as many people as possible.
“We are pleased so far with the design,” Webb said. “We’ve been through several exercises in value engineering, with different sets of eyes looking to see if there is a better, less expensive way.”
The new jail will be built to house 325 to 400 inmates, replacing jails in Amherst County, Appomattox County and the Blue Ridge Regional Jail Authority facility in Moneta. Those three jails house about 220 inmates combined, which stay imprisoned for an average of 90 to 100 days.
Amherst’s existing jail was built in 1994 with a capacity of 50 inmates. It averages between 80 and 95 prisoners and is landlocked with no room to expand.
Amherst will account for about 42 percent of the beds in the new jail; Appomattox would take up about 14 percent of the beds, and the Blue Ridge Regional Jail Authority will take up 44 percent. Each of the agencies will contribute a portion of the costs based on usage.
Starting in April, Webb said crews will begin clearing and grading the site. That work will start a little before and independent of the actual construction of the jail, which will begin in late summer or early fall.
The project will take an estimated two years to complete.
Administrators are working with the Amherst County Public Service Authority to run sufficient water and sewer lines to the site. A portion of that cost will be included in the construction project.
“There’s so much detail work that needs to be done,” he said.
The Blue Ridge Regional Jail Authority will run the new jail. It also operates jails in Lynchburg and Bedford as will as the counties of Bedford, Campbell and Halifax.
The Amherst County Board of Supervisors rezoned the property for the jail in December 2006, amid protests from the property’s neighbors who expressed concerns over safety and property values.
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