There

will be no parking deck at Fayette County's new

jail and courthouse complex... at least not in

the near future.

"We

need to keep the price of the project as

reasonable as we can for the taxpayers of the

county," Commissioner Greg Dunn said during

discussion of plans for the jail at last week's

County Commission meeting.

Commissioners

voted 3-2 to approve a site plan for the jail

that calls for about 700 on-ground parking spaces

to serve the jail and courthouse. Future plans

for a county administration building will double

the need for parking spaces, but Dunn argued that

if a parking deck is necessary it can be built at

that time.

Commissioners

Herb Frady and Glen Gosa argued for the parking

deck, saying storm water runoff from the parking

lot will present an environmental problem.

"Every

parking space creates an environmental

problem," said Gosa.

"I

just think that's an awfully big parking

lot," said Frady.

Under

the approved plan, parking lots and buildings

will take up about ** percent of the 67 acres the

county has set aside for the jail, judicial

complex and a future administration building for

the county.

To

Dunn's argument that a parking deck will cost

between $5 million and $7 million as opposed to

about $500,000 for on-ground parking, Frady

suggested using revenue bonds to build the

parking deck and charging visitors to park there.

"The taxpayers wouldn't have to pay for

it," he said.

But

Commissioner Linda Wells had a different reason

for opposing parking decks. They're not safe, she

said.

"We're

creating a venue there that we're going to have

to have more and more law enforcement officers to

patrol," she said.

In

the end, commissioners approved a plan for adding

onto the current county jail, and renovating the

old courthouse facilities to use as a sheriff's

office. Administration offices for the jail will

move into the old sheriff's office.

new three-story judicial complex is planned just

south of the new sheriff's office/old judicial

complex.

The

approved plan also designates about three acres

for a new senior center at the southeast corner

of the property.

Cost

is expected to be around $60 million, and finding

the funds is the next step in the process.

The

commissioners' jail committee will be discussing

funding options over the next few weeks, but

members have said they don't want to decide on a

funding method until after the Board of

Education's sales tax referendum Sept. 21.

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