Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY — A study released Friday ranks a location near Fairfield in Utah County as the best place for the relocation of the state prison.
Utah’s Prison Relocation Commission has looked at more than 40 sites since last summer in order to replace the aging 700-acre Utah State Prison in the Salt Lake City suburb of Draper.
The report released by the commission lists 17 sites in Utah, Tooele, Salt Lake and Weber counties that could potentially be home to a new 4,000-bed correctional facility. Friday’s report also eliminated several proposed sites that the commission considered critically flawed.
The top site is in Utah County’s southern Cedar Valley and is accessible by State Highway 73. The spot near Fairfield was selected as the top contender because of its large land area and easy travel to Salt Lake City and Draper.
The isolation of the Cedar Valley site means that the land is expected to be less expensive than other locations, but it also means extending infrastructure will likely cost more.
A tract of land in Salt Lake County and a location in Tooele are also top contenders.
The proposed Salt Lake County location is just north of Interstate 80 near the border with Davis County. This site is similar to one considered earlier in the process, but it is larger and closer to the highway. The cost of acquiring land at the Salt Lake County site is expected to be higher than at other locations.
The commission, which includes government officials and outside consultants, evaluated the prospective locations based on proximity to staff and services, land characteristics, the availability of infrastructure and other factors.
Earlier in the screening process, the commission considered how community leaders and the public at each location would react to a prison being built nearby. But that factor was eliminated in the most recent site evaluation.
The report says the community-acceptance component was removed “because it is expected that all potential host communities will rate equally low” with a score of 0.
The commission eliminated locations that are 90 miles or more from Draper, smaller than 500 acres or too mountainous or remote. The commission also eliminated former landfill sites.