Commissioners continue public hearing on site for new jail

by CHERYL SCHWEIZER
Staff Writer | October 21, 2021 1:03 AM

EPHRATA — Grant County commissioners on Tuesday continued a public hearing to Nov. 10 on a proposed budget extension for the possible purchase of land for a new Grant County Jail.

Grant County Central Services Director Tom Gaines asked for the continuance.

In an interview after the continuance request, he said county officials received some information Monday about access issues to part of the undeveloped property, which would have to be worked out before county officials decided whether to buy the land.

The 86.9 acres are located at the intersection of Road B.3 Northwest and state Route 282, near the Ephrata city limits. The proposed purchase price is $785,000 for three parcels, with money coming from funds set aside to build the new jail. Grant County voters approved a three-tenths of 1% increase in the county sales tax to help fund law and justice projects, including the new jail, in 2019.

One section of the property is developed as the Ephrata Raceway Park, which closed in 2017. The raceway parcel is 29.99 acres, with a current assessed value of $323,920.

The two remaining parcels are between the raceway property and the road, are owned by the same person, Richard Boness, and are undeveloped. One is 46.01 acres, with a current assessed value of $167,895. The other is 10.9 acres and has an assessed value of $109,000. Gaines said the access issues involve the undeveloped property.

Originally, county officials tentatively decided on a potential site for the jail at the county’s Work Release Center at 1631 Division Ave. in Ephrata. The county owns about 3 acres at the site and proposed buying about 3 acres from the Port of Ephrata. At a meeting with port officials in June, county officials expressed interest in buying an additional 4 acres at the site.

Port commissioners announced in late August they decided against selling the Division Avenue land.

County officials hired CRA Architects, of Tallahassee, Florida, to design the new facility. Some preliminary planning and design is underway, but the final design is awaiting site selection.