Beltrami Co. Board Decides on Crown Property for New Jail Site

Betrami County took one step forward today on the new jail site with a purchase agreement – or rather, a donation agreement.

After almost three months of work, the Beltrami County Board of Commissioners came to a decision today on where to place the new jail and chose the Crown Property, located in the southern part of Bemidji along Pioneer St. SE. This decision followed a public hearing where citizens did not support the other option of the Quello Property.

The Crown Property is zoned as industrial, which is one of the biggest factors towards choosing the site along with the price tag, or lack thereof. The Crown Property will be a donation from the current owner.

“We will certainly want to do our due diligence and make sure that as generous as this donation has been, that we’re not accepting a property that doesn’t work for some reason,” explained Beltrami County Administrator Tom Barry at today’s meeting. “We don’t anticipate this. But, if there was to be something that kept the property from being utilized as a jail, we wouldn’t want to take the property on.”

Clauses the county must follow include using the land only for a jail and having the groundbreaking within five years of the agreement closure.

The anticipated transfer will take place 30 days after the due diligence period.