The proposed site for Amador County’s new jail was the source of much eyebrow raising at the Sutter Creek City Council meeting Monday night. The city recently received an application referral from the County of Amador for the purchase of 8.2 acres of property in the Amador Central Business Park,  near the new Health and Human Services building off of Lower Ridge Road/ Highway 104. The County is proposing to build a 165-bed, 60,800 square foot jail on the site, to replace the county’s current 100-bed jail, which is quickly becoming obsolete. Council members reviewed a recommendation from city staff to write a letter to the County expressing the City’s concerns about the location of the new jail, which included “potential negative impacts on the City,” in the areas of Public Safety, Infrastructure, and Quality of Life.

Council members discussed the possibility of increased crime in Sutter Creek, the closest municipality to the proposed jail, due to the release of the jail’s clients who have nowhere to go.  Other concerns centered on impacts to the wastewater system and local roads, as well as the location of the facility across from the proposed Gold Rush Ranch Golf Course Project. After reviewing the recommendation, councilman Pat Crosby noted that the project’s environmental report does not comment on the proposed Gold Rush Ranch or Wicklow Way subdivisions. “I don’t have a problem with the location, but I would like to see those projects included in the EIR,” he stated. Councilman Brent Parson’s inquired whether there was a better site for the facility, but also stressed the need to be realistic, and not to fall back on “Not In My Backyard,” or “NIMBY” rhetoric. One resident suggested an alternative location off of Hoffmann Street in Jackson, close to the local court system, but down the hill and away from Argonaut High School. In the end, the council voted to draft a letter to the County outlining their concerns, as well as their desire for an alternative location for the proposed jail site on Ridge Road.