AG 2007 08 20 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Page 1 of 2 John Day From: Dan McDonald [dmcdonald@wmba.net] Sent: Sunday, August 12, 2007 5:54 PM To: .John Day Cc: Pete Cayado; Grace Mynatt Subject: [text][html][heur] Cabarrus County Law Enforcement Center and Jail Housing Unit -Study Conditions Dear John, I was given a copy of an email that outlined the parameters that the Plaintiffs have proposed to the Commissioners as a compromise. They are: 1. That the maximum number of new beds be limited to 384, including those in the Annex in the downtown azea. 2. That the height be kept to four stories. Four stories is defined as a maximum height of 50' 3. That the all building for this facility be kept north of a line that extends from YCH office and the adjacent Insurance Office to the south. 4. That the property south of this line be a NO BUILD zone (the present pazking area and retention pond can remain) and this property will be protected with restriction to be determined with our attorney, the County attorney, and the City attorney. 5. That the County truly plan for the future needs of the County by beginning site acquisition and design for a new satellitejail facility. 6. That the County can keep in operation until a new satellite jail facility is open the existing 142 bed jail. It would seem that your Architect would need to address Items 1, 2, and 3. As an Architect and as part of the azchitectural team for the expansion of the Rowan County Court, Jail and Sheriff Department expansion in the mid-90's, as well as having reviewed the architecture] documents for this project, please indulge me the following comments: 1. We did not specify a minimum number of beds, but instead worked with a maximum. number. We worked to develop a reasonable number that would correspond with the arrangement of the control stations with living units or pods system that your Architect developed for this plan and was similar to the Rowan County facility. 2. We did not address the "look" of the Jail Housing Unit. The design of the exterior has not been driven by our group but instead by the City. We have always stood by the issue that the overall size of the Housing unit was out of scale and proportionally for the downtown area and the adjacent residential azea. In that effort it would seem reasonable that it would help to diminish the size of the Housing Unit by using a design chazacter more like the Administration Center since it is attached to and is directly behind the Administration Unit instead of the Annex. Level Six of the Administration Unit would seem to be the most appropriate design character for the Housing Unit. Arched windows aze not needed. We realize that most of these windows would be false. I doubt that there would be any opposition to that concept based on comments that we have heard about the design of the Annex. 3. We did not consider a higher height limitation. However we are always open to discuss any ideas or proposal that the County would like to present to us. At this point, we are working to the best of our ability to reach a compromise solution. This is a position we have always maintained. 4. We are keenly aware that the County would like to use as much of the existing documents as possible and build on the pad that has been set aside for the housing tower. We had shown a sketch that eliminated the northern living pods of the tower and pushed it forward toward the Administration Unit. This would have placed the control azea immediately adjacent to the Administration Unit and provided direct access to the bridge link. A four story building plus Annex would have provided the 288 beds that we originally proposed. A possible idea to increase the bed count would be to take the top two floor and turn it at a right angle to the Administration Unit and extend it toward the area where the loading dock is shown.. Place the control station in the center with North to South orientation and have beds units on each side of the control stations similar to the tower design. The bed count would be less than the 192 G-~ sil4iaoo7