In the face of fierce opposition from Windsor residents, the Isle of Wight County Board of Supervisors voted late Thursday to turn over 20 acres of land for a new state juvenile detention center.
The land transfer — which passed on a 3-2 vote — came at about 11:30 p.m., after a more than five-hour public hearing in which several dozen speakers took to the podium to strongly object to the deal.
The agreement still is subject to negotiations with the state over the next few weeks on such things as jail perimeter security, a cap on the number of beds that can be added, and what would happen to the site should the state pull out years from now.
But Thursday’s vote means that stopping the controversial project could prove difficult. The board is expected to vote on the final contract in late March, and the supervisors so far appear firm in their positions.
The land for the juvenile detention center, off Route 258, is about two miles south of Route 460.
It’s on county property and near — but not in — the rural town of Windsor, population 2,700.
Residents who attended Thursday’s hearing overwhelmingly objected to the new detention center — citing concerns about public safety and losses in property values, and fearing that the town’s down-home and idyllic feel might be forever lost. Many said they moved to the county to get away from such things a police and sirens, and things will be different with a “juvenile prison” in town.
But backers downplay those concerns. They like the idea of a state facility — and its 240 jobs — coming to the county. The Department of Juvenile Justice says the center’s jobs, to be held by counselors, guards, medical workers and others, will pay about $60,000 a year.
The county administration — backed by supervisors representing Smithfield, Carrollton and other parts of the county — have said they think the detention center will bring economic benefits to gas stations, restaurants and other businesses from the new jobs and development.
The supervisors meeting was packed, attended by more than 150 people. The standing-room-only crowd left dozens of people outside or watching on a TV screen in the downstairs lobby. Most of the audience was wearing “Vote No” stickers, and applauded heavily whenever speakers spoke against the project.
When board chairman William M. McCarty cast his “yes” vote — the decisive vote to move the project forward — audience members voiced their displeasure.
“You’re not listening to the citizens at all!” one man shouted out.
“You’re a joke!” another man cried — with others chiming in that the evening was a “waste of time,” given that the board voted for the project despite overwhelming opposition by the attendees.
McCarty pounded the gavel to call for order.
The state’s Department of Juvenile Justice wants to build the 60-bed detention center to house teenage inmates from Hampton Roads — including from Newport News, Hampton and South Hampton Roads — in a center that would open in about 2022.
The agency initially wanted to build the center in Chesapeake, but that city rebuffed the idea after a similar public outrcry, and the state approached Isle of Wight in late 2017.
The center is part of the state’s newer approach to juvenile corrections — providing more education, training, athletics, counseling and other services to attempt to help with reform. According to state documents, the agency wants to replace its larger juvenile centers — with more than 250 beds apiece — with “smaller, regional and treatment-oriented” facilities.
The one in Isle of Wight, for example, would have five 12-bed “cottages,” agency executive director Andrew Block told the board. “That’s small enough to do the work and (build the relationships) you want,” but large enough to keep it financially feasible, he said.
He said that housing the teens relatively close to home — “much closer to their communities” — will encourage families to visit more often than if they had to trek to remote parts of the state.
In addressing some of the crowd’s concerns, Block acknowledged that the detention center workers won’t carry guns — given that the department is precluded by state law from having armed guards. But he promised that the state puts a premium on safety.
The land for the center is part of the 950-acre Shirley T. Holland Intermodal Park — land once envisioned for distribution centers, trucks and trains serving the port of Hampton Roads.
Under the deal, the county would give the state the 20 acres — which the county values at $200,000 — for free. The county has also offered to pay another $500,000 to cover about a third of the state’s $1.5 million cost for building water and sewer lines to the site. That will be made up, the county said, by $50,000 in annual water and sewer revenue from the project.
But none of those promises gave solace to opponents from Windsor.
Many town residents weren’t necessarily against bringing the detention center to Isle of Wight — but just not in Windsor. They wanted it in a more industrial area, they said, such as near Smithfield Packing plant. They said that putting the “stigma” of a “juvenile prison” on the county’s main roadway, Route 258, is bound to drag down property values.
“How can they do this against the people’s will?” Louise Bennett, 72, of Windsor, said as she stood outside before the vote. “We have no say over it. It’s just not the place for it.”
“We don’t want it,” said another Windsor resident, Jeremy May, before the vote. “I’m so furious right now. I can’t believe the county has done this.”
Voting for the deal were McCarty, of the Newport district, and Supervisors Rudolph Jefferson of the Hardy district and Richard Grice of the Smithfield district. The board’s Windsor representative, vice chairman Joel C. Acree, voted against the deal, as did the Carrsville representative, Don Rosie.
“I was elected to be the voice of the people in the Windsor district,” Acree said before voting no. “They’ve been very loud about what they don’t want. I have to be the voice of the citizens that I represent.”
Rosie also said he was voting no based on the public outcry. “Those who live nearby and are closest to the facility don’t want it,” Rosie said.
Jefferson, on the other hand, talked about how Isle of Wight could provide “an investment in our kids,” particularly teens “that are going through a hard time” — while also bringing economic development from the jobs and other spinoffs to the county.
“This is a golden opportunity for us to lead the charge to (help) kids who have had a troubled life,” Jefferson said.
Acree and Rosie — and most of the audience — wanted to hold off on the land transfer vote until a meeting in late March. But County Attorney Robert W. Jones Jr. said the only way the state would agree to negotiate the deal’s details would be if there were already a vote to convey the property. That led to the final vote.
Jones said that if the deal wasn’t reached with the state, the land wouldn’t be legally transferred.
