DeniseJ
06-21-2004, 08:40 AM
Halfway house looks to grow
Officials worried about effect Causeway corrections center will have on area's businesses, tourism
Saturday, June 19, 2004 By DAN MURTAUGH
Staff Reporter
A halfway house on the Causeway is looking to expand, while local officials say they are concerned about the impact the project will have on the area.
Officials of the Mobile Community Service Center, which houses inmates who work during the day and return to the secured facility at night, want to build a new structure and increase capacity from 43 inmates to 60, according to a report from the Federal Bureau of Prisons that was released Friday.
http://www.al.com/images/spacer.gifhttp://www.al.com/images/spacer.gifhttp://www.al.com/images/spacer.gifhttp://ads1.advance.net/RealMedia/ads/Creatives/ADVANCE/CONTENT_WELL_ARROW/arrow.gifhttp://www.al.com/images/spacer.gif
http://www.al.com/images/spacer.gifhttp://www.al.com/images/spacer.gifhttp://www.al.com/images/spacer.gifhttp://www.al.com/images/spacer.gifhttp://www.al.com/images/spacer.gifhttp://www.al.com/images/spacer.gifhttp://www.al.com/images/spacer.gifThe Community Service Center houses male and female inmates who are transferred to the Causeway site from other federal prisons, are serving short sentences or are under supervision of probation officers, the report states.
It operates in a building it leases from The Shoulder, a rehabilitation center across the road from Meaher State Park.
The prisons bureau is giving residents until July 19 to comment, and will then decide whether to approve it, said Bridgette Lyles, an environmental protection specialist with the agency.
If the bureau approves the plan, Keeton Corrections, which runs the facility, would need to get approval for the site plan from Spanish Fort's planning and zoning board, said Spanish Fort Mayor Greg Kuhlmann.
News of the proposed expansion surprised some local officials, including Kuhlmann and state Rep. Randy Davis, R-Daphne, who said it wouldn't jibe with the image they are trying to create on the Causeway.
Kuhlmann, who owns land adjacent to the facility and has had to recuse himself from all matters related to the site, said he is unhappy about the plan.
Taking off my mayor's hat here, as a private citizen, I'm not excited about it, he said Friday.
Davis said the plan would go against recent beautification efforts by the state, city and local organizations to try to improve the Causeway's draw as a destination for businesses and tourism.
Davis said the state has spent several hundred thousand dollars destroying derelict buildings along the Causeway, and is in the process of bidding out the construction of a $4 million State Lands Division welcome center.
The resource of our area is our water, and the beauty of the Delta, he said. (The halfway house) does not fit with the efforts of the Causeway at all.
Angela Adams, director of the halfway house, said she was not at liberty to give out any information about the plans.
According to the Bureau of Prisons report, Keeton Corrections, of Panama City, Fla., operates the facility. For the past nearly 12 years, it has leased part of the north wing of The Shoulder, a nonprofit substance abuse rehabilitation center, according to Phillip Drane, The Shoulder's executive director.
Keeton wants to move the halfway house out of the north wing and erect a 9,000-square-foot building on piers right next door, according to the report. Flooding on the Causeway requires construction to be at above-ground levels.
Inspectors from the Bureau of Prisons told Keeton it had to have a new facility so inmates could be more closely supervised, Drane said.
Drane said The Shoulder will be losing money because of the change, because it costs less to lease land than it does to rent out part of a building, but he still supports the idea.
Our location is the ideal place for what we do and what they do, he said. It's convenient to Mobile and to the businesses on the Eastern Shore. ... (Another) advantage is that, other than a transmission center, there are no neighbors.
Lyles said that while all comments are welcome, the bureau is primarily looking for any possible environmental impacts the proposed building might have. According to the report, the only major consequence the bureau foresees is an increase in traffic on the Causeway during construction.
The report is available at the Baldwin County Library Cooperative in Robertsdale, and another copy will be available at the Daphne Public Library on Monday.
In addition, anyone can request that a copy be mailed to them by calling Lyles at (202) 514-6470.
Comments can be mailed to: Pamela J. Chandler, Acting Chief, Site Selection and Environmental Review Branch, Federal Bureau of Prisons, 320 First St., NW, Washington, DC 20534.
Comments also can be called in to (202) 514-6470 or faxed to (202) 616-6024.
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Officials worried about effect Causeway corrections center will have on area's businesses, tourism
Saturday, June 19, 2004 By DAN MURTAUGH
Staff Reporter
A halfway house on the Causeway is looking to expand, while local officials say they are concerned about the impact the project will have on the area.
Officials of the Mobile Community Service Center, which houses inmates who work during the day and return to the secured facility at night, want to build a new structure and increase capacity from 43 inmates to 60, according to a report from the Federal Bureau of Prisons that was released Friday.
http://www.al.com/images/spacer.gifhttp://www.al.com/images/spacer.gifhttp://www.al.com/images/spacer.gifhttp://ads1.advance.net/RealMedia/ads/Creatives/ADVANCE/CONTENT_WELL_ARROW/arrow.gifhttp://www.al.com/images/spacer.gif
http://www.al.com/images/spacer.gifhttp://www.al.com/images/spacer.gifhttp://www.al.com/images/spacer.gifhttp://www.al.com/images/spacer.gifhttp://www.al.com/images/spacer.gifhttp://www.al.com/images/spacer.gifhttp://www.al.com/images/spacer.gifThe Community Service Center houses male and female inmates who are transferred to the Causeway site from other federal prisons, are serving short sentences or are under supervision of probation officers, the report states.
It operates in a building it leases from The Shoulder, a rehabilitation center across the road from Meaher State Park.
The prisons bureau is giving residents until July 19 to comment, and will then decide whether to approve it, said Bridgette Lyles, an environmental protection specialist with the agency.
If the bureau approves the plan, Keeton Corrections, which runs the facility, would need to get approval for the site plan from Spanish Fort's planning and zoning board, said Spanish Fort Mayor Greg Kuhlmann.
News of the proposed expansion surprised some local officials, including Kuhlmann and state Rep. Randy Davis, R-Daphne, who said it wouldn't jibe with the image they are trying to create on the Causeway.
Kuhlmann, who owns land adjacent to the facility and has had to recuse himself from all matters related to the site, said he is unhappy about the plan.
Taking off my mayor's hat here, as a private citizen, I'm not excited about it, he said Friday.
Davis said the plan would go against recent beautification efforts by the state, city and local organizations to try to improve the Causeway's draw as a destination for businesses and tourism.
Davis said the state has spent several hundred thousand dollars destroying derelict buildings along the Causeway, and is in the process of bidding out the construction of a $4 million State Lands Division welcome center.
The resource of our area is our water, and the beauty of the Delta, he said. (The halfway house) does not fit with the efforts of the Causeway at all.
Angela Adams, director of the halfway house, said she was not at liberty to give out any information about the plans.
According to the Bureau of Prisons report, Keeton Corrections, of Panama City, Fla., operates the facility. For the past nearly 12 years, it has leased part of the north wing of The Shoulder, a nonprofit substance abuse rehabilitation center, according to Phillip Drane, The Shoulder's executive director.
Keeton wants to move the halfway house out of the north wing and erect a 9,000-square-foot building on piers right next door, according to the report. Flooding on the Causeway requires construction to be at above-ground levels.
Inspectors from the Bureau of Prisons told Keeton it had to have a new facility so inmates could be more closely supervised, Drane said.
Drane said The Shoulder will be losing money because of the change, because it costs less to lease land than it does to rent out part of a building, but he still supports the idea.
Our location is the ideal place for what we do and what they do, he said. It's convenient to Mobile and to the businesses on the Eastern Shore. ... (Another) advantage is that, other than a transmission center, there are no neighbors.
Lyles said that while all comments are welcome, the bureau is primarily looking for any possible environmental impacts the proposed building might have. According to the report, the only major consequence the bureau foresees is an increase in traffic on the Causeway during construction.
The report is available at the Baldwin County Library Cooperative in Robertsdale, and another copy will be available at the Daphne Public Library on Monday.
In addition, anyone can request that a copy be mailed to them by calling Lyles at (202) 514-6470.
Comments can be mailed to: Pamela J. Chandler, Acting Chief, Site Selection and Environmental Review Branch, Federal Bureau of Prisons, 320 First St., NW, Washington, DC 20534.
Comments also can be called in to (202) 514-6470 or faxed to (202) 616-6024.
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