Iron County officials to hold town hall meeting on proposed new jail

Iron County Jail, Cedar City, Utah, Nov. 24, 2021 | File photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

CEDAR CITY — The Iron County Commission will hold a special town hall meeting next month to discuss options and plans for a new county correctional facility in Cedar City and answer questions from the public.

Iron County Commission members Mike Bleak and Paul Cozzens, with fellow Commissioner Marilyn Wood (not pictured) participating via telephone, during a special meeting in Parowan, Utah on Jan. 14, 2022 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

The event has been scheduled for Feb. 8, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in the Great Hall of the Hunter Conference Center on the Southern Utah University campus.

In addition to sharing information about the four potential locations being considered for the new jail, along with the pros and cons of each option, the meeting will also feature panelists answering questions from members of the public.

Anyone interested in submitting questions or comments is invited to send them via email to [email protected] before 4 p.m. on Jan. 28.

Officials have said the current Iron County Jail, which is nearly 35 years old and reportedly the oldest county correctional facility in the state, is in dire need of replacement.

One of the locations under consideration, nicknamed the Smead site because of its proximity to a paper products manufacturing plant west of Lund Highway and north of state Route 56, has been the subject of objections and concerns raised by some of the residents who live in surrounding neighborhoods, as previously reported in Cedar City News.

Iron County had previously placed a tentative offer on the 40-acre parcel; however, during a special meeting held on Friday morning, the county commissioners unanimously voted to cancel the contract and withdraw the offer so that the county wouldn’t forfeit its earnest money.

Nevertheless, the Smead site remains one of the four locations still receiving consideration, with the other three being Landfill site (so named for its proximity to the county landfill on Iron Springs Road), the Enoch site (located in the northern part of Enoch, west of SR-130 and north of Midvalley Road) and the Automall site, located to the east and north of the Love’s truck stop at the Interstate 15 Exit 62 interchange in Cedar City.

Flyer announcing a Feb. 8, 2022 town hall meeting about proposed new correctional facility in Iron County, Utah | Image courtesy of Iron County, St. George News / Cedar City News

A map showing the four locations is included on the county’s flyer announcing the upcoming town hall. Click here to see a copy of the announcement, which was made public on Saturday.

Earlier in the week, the Iron County Commission met for its first meeting of the new year, convening in the commission chambers in Parowan on Monday morning.

Among the first items of business was Commissioner Marilyn Wood taking over as this year’s chair. She and fellow commissioner Mike Bleak switched seats, after which Wood proceeded to direct the business of the meeting.

One of the agenda items on Monday was the commission voting 3-0 to amend the county ordinances to allow for townhomes in certain instances.

“We’ve never had duplexes or multifamily housing of any kind in the county,” said county planner Reed Erickson, who has been involved with county planning for 22 years. Up until now, he noted, such zoning has been limited to within cities and not permitted in the unincorporated parts of the county. 

“It’s taken a fair amount of time to think through and get everybody on board philosophically in terms of our ability to take a look at multifamily housing … in terms of not just affordability, but transportation and infrastructure,” Erickson added.

Cattle grazing in Iron County, Utah, for illustrative purposes. March 27, 2021 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

In a separate agenda item, Erickson presented a map of the county that identified potential areas where concentrated animal feeding operations, also known as CAFOs, may be located, as required by a new state law (SB 130) passed last year. That topic was covered previously in a Cedar City News article published last March. The commission voted 3-0 to approve the map and associated regulations.

In other business, the county voted to contribute $5,000 in seed money to help a planned tri-county chamber of commerce get started. The new organization will coordinate with existing city chambers of commerce and tourism promoters provide support to businesses in Iron, Beaver and Garfield counties.

Also during Monday’s meeting, the commissioners were given a short refresher course on the state’s Open and Public Meetings Act by Sam Woodall, deputy county attorney.

Additionally, a map of the recently redrawn election precincts was shared by County Clerk Jonathan Whittaker. After some explanation and discussion, it was also approved unanimously. It was noted during the meeting that the updated map was necessitated by the changing population figures reflected in the 2020 census, .

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, all rights reserved.

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