MERCER COUNTY Jail to have driveway on Route 258

The site expansion will end the debate over the use of Thompson Road as the main access to the new jail.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
MERCER, Pa. -- Mercer County plans to buy an additional 15 acres for its proposed county jail site adjacent to the State Regional Correctional Facility in Findley Township.
The county has already secured 17 acres from the state at that location, but securing additional property will allow the configuration of the proposed 266-bed facility to be rearranged to avoid using Thompson Road as its main access route, said County Commissioner Gene Brenneman.
Residents of the Thompson Road area have expressed concerns about the county's plans for a new jail in their neighborhood. Thompson Road doesn't need the extra traffic the jail would generate, they said.
Brenneman said the county has negotiated the purchase of 15 acres that front Pa. Route 25 and are adjacent to the 17 acres it got from the state.
That will allow the jail building to be relocated on the site so that it can have a driveway that connects with Route 258, bypassing Thompson Road, he said.
The commissioners are expected to approve the purchase at their meeting Thursday.
Price
The jail has an estimated $18 million price, which will be covered with a $30 million bond issue borrowed by the county for the jail and other projects.
In a related matter, Brenneman said the county has come to an agreement with the state to pump sewage from the new jail into the treatment plant that serves the adjacent state minimum-security prison.
The state facility has the capacity to handle the load, though it will need about $65,000 worth of improvements. The county will pick up that tab, he said, noting it's much cheaper than the estimated $1 million it would have cost the county to build its own treatment plant.
The state will charge the county $20,000 a year to treat sewage from the new jail, he said.