Locals Resist New Jail in Westmoreland

By Donna Moxley on Monday, October 25, 2004.

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Residents in southwestern New Hampshire are fighting over the location of a new Cheshire County jail.

The county already runs a jail in Westmoreland and wants to expand that facility.

But local residents feel the county is dumping another jail on them because they have less political clout than property owners in Keene.

The Keene Sentinel's Donna Moxley reports.

The Jail in Westmoreland is a typical 1970's cinder block building with tall, narrow windows and razor wire around a small yard.

Across the driveway is a corn field that extends to the Connecticut River.

So far, the jail's neighbors in Westmoreland have tolerated it.

But now, the county is looking to replace the outdated, overcrowded facility with a new, 24-million-dollar building.

And many locals are saying "enough is enough."

(cornfield sound underneath)

Ellen Clement: 37:21 "This is not a NIMBY issue, it's the larger footprint of the expanding jail that is of concern to us because of the small town and the impact on a small town......

That's Ellen Clement, a member of the group Westmoreland Concerned Citizens About the Jail.

She has alot of reasons for not wanting the expansion.

But when asked she goes into details about the site's lack of adequate water and sewage treatment.

She says it'll cost a bundle to upgrade the systems so they don't pollute the nearby Connecticut River.

Resident Dick Kate joins Clement.

He says the current sewer treatment facility right behind the jail isn't up to standards.

Dick Kate: 20:07-20:36 "The engineers have said and I quote that there are ongoing unresolved issues with the plant as it exists, and that it is not now meeting its permit requirements. We feel very strongly that these issues need to be corrected before adding a large jail." 20:36

County commission chairman Richard Zerba said he isn't aware of any trouble at the sewage treatment facility.

But he says the cost of upgrading it was already built into the estimates for the new jail.

What's more, Zerba says, building it elsewhere could cost more.

The county might have to buy the land and it would have to be near sewage treatment and water supply systems.

Many of the plan's critics also disapprove of the way possible sites were selected.

They say Westmoreland was chosen even though more appropriate properties were available in Keene and Swanzey.

John Harris is a member of the concerned citizens group.

He charges the county delegation simply brushed aside properties outside of Westmoreland.

John Harris: 9:26 "I learned just serendipitously in August that a farmer named Adams had made an offer to the county administrator a site in swanzey that he wanted to be considered and he was willing to swap land in Swanzey for farmland in Westmoreland.

But the County's Richard Zerba says the Commission wasn't given enough information.

Zerba: 59:22 "The Adams consideration or proposal was based on the fact 'is the farm closing,' nobody told us the farm was closing so we figured there was nothing to talk about." 59:35

And Zerba adds that Another property closer to Keene was rejected because it didn't fit the county's needs.

At least one consultant to the Commission has recommended that the jail should be close to the Keene courthouse.

And to that end, County lawmakers and the county commission had approved a site on Route 101 on the border of Marlborough and Keene.

But a group of local residents quickly bought that parcel they learned the jail might be built there.

The group then turned the land over to the Harris Center for Conservation Education in nearby Hancock.

But opponents say there are still properties closer to Keene to consider.

And they charge that the county has largely ignored them because of political pressure.

Local residents are organizing pressure of their own.

At a County Delegation meeting on the Westmoreland sites late last month, hundreds of people showed up to protest.

And the delegation voted to go back to the drawing board.

Pratt: 71:00 "No one in their right mind would put a brand new 20-some-odd-million-dollar jail in Westmoreland but for the fact that that's where the existing one is and that's where the land is.

Representative Jack Pratt Walpole has been opposed to expanding the Westmoreland jail since the beginning.

(pratt)You'd never go to Westmoreland, it's in the wrong direction, it goes the wrong way, it doesn't meet the consultant's criteria in terms of nearness to the courts and the major city, it's just the wrong place." 71:38

Pratt has suggested considering the Cheshire County fairgrounds in Swanzey rather than Westmoreland.

Pratt farm. 76:17 "I've been fighting to close the county farm since I became a member of the delegation. it's just a money-loser ... it made sense 100 years ago it doesn't make sense today." 76:17

There is one thing the sides in this dispute agree on.

It's back to square one looking for a solution that everyone can agree on.

County commission chairman Richard Zerba says he doesn't understand exactly why.

Zerba: 69:24 "We can't just go out obviously and create land that doesn't exist that meets the criteria of size and infrastructure at a cost that the county can afford." 69:33

The county delegation meets again on Tuesday evening at 7 at the county courthouse in Keene to consider the next move.

For NHPR News, I'm Donna Moxley in Keene.