Plans to enlarge the women's section of the San Luis Obispo County Jail are moving forward, but whether the money to fund the expansion will be forthcoming remains up in the air.

On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a mitigated negative declaration for the estimated $30 million project that's currently without funding.

The county hopes to pay for the much-needed expansion with federal grant funds, and during a special budget meeting last week, the supervisors were told that because the project is “ready to go,” it has a better chance of being funded.

The project's environmental document says the planned expansion will have minimal impact on the surrounding environment, and any impacts can and will be mitigated, county planning staff said.

The document includes 25 mitigation measures that will reduce all impacts to the environment to an “insignificant level,” said Doug Wood, of Douglas Wood & Associates, which produced the report.

The women's jail is located near the County Operations Center on Kansas Avenue in rural northern San Luis Obispo.

Wood said the environmental document studied impacts to a wetland - a drainage ditch - adjacent to the project site, and nearby oak trees, and includes a detailed traffic analysis, which studied potential impacts to the intersection on Highway 1 and Kansas Avenue.

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There were concerns that the expansion would create additional traffic, but Wood said the analysis revealed the level of service there would remain the same.

“It would be an insignificant impact,” Wood told the supervisors, who didn't offer much comment on the document or the proposed project.

Second District Supervisor Bruce Gibson said he was impressed with the environmental document, calling it was “the most detailed initial study I've ever seen.”

The county's Department of General Services proposes expanding the overcrowded women's jail facility by about 17,000 square feet, from its present size of about 9,000 square feet.

The expansion would allow the facility to house 192 female inmates. The facility has a maximum capacity of 149 prisoners.

If the county is successful in obtaining federal grants for the project, construction could begin this summer, according to county staff.

April Charlton can be reached at 489-4206, Ext. 5016, or acharlton@santamariatimes.com.

January 30, 2008