Jeffco Sex Offender Site Search: $1.3 Million
No End In Sight As Commissioners Seek Solution To Housing Problem
POSTED: 6:43 a.m. MDT October 8, 2001
Jefferson County has been searching for a site for a treatment facility for juvenile sex offenders for nearly two years and officials are no closer today than they were when they started.
The county is, however, nearly $1.3 million poorer, with indications that the county will spend another $300,000 before for search is over.
The staff time devoted to the project was not calculated in the cost but amounts to hundreds of hours, county administrator Ron Holliday said.
One county commissioner called the total spent so far "shocking," but the other two commissioners (pictured, left) defend the cost as well as the process.
"I think it (the money) has gone out the window," Commissioner Pat Holloway said. "Now that I have seen it on paper, it is shocking."
Commissioners Rick Sheehan and Michelle Lawrence point out, however, that the county has acquired $1 million in real estate.
During the past year, the county considered and rejected two sites: the Ramstetter West property north of Golden and state-owned property near Pine.
The Ramstetter West site, purchased by the county for $635,405, could become open space since part of the money used to buy it was earmarked for open space acquisition.
A second property near Golden -- the 9.3-acre McCormick property, which is contiguous to the Ramstetter property -- was purchased earlier for $365,000. That purchase brings the total land assets to $1 million, the largest part of the nearly $1.6 million the county has spent in its search for a suitable site.
The county also paid Hand Up Homes $120,000 to explore and recommend the type of treatment facility needed and to advise the county on the design of the proposed facility.
Hand Up Homes recommended its own treatment philosophy and was chosen by the county to operate the proposed facility. The county paid $4,250 to a consultant who examined the Hand Up Homes recommendation and issued a concurring opinion.
Sheehan and Lawrence said that the Jeffco site search has caught the attention of judges, the state legislature and the county's cities.
Most cities in the county limit the number of sex offenders in a single home, but now are discussing ways to resolve the issue.
"Maybe I'm a Pollyanna, but now that we've gotten the attention of the judiciary and of the cities and of the legislature . . . I really believe that we may come up with something," Lawrence said.
Sheehan also defended the $108,000 spent on an unsuccessful application for a permit the county needed to operate the proposed facility at a site north of Golden.
"Some of these costs dealt with the special-use permit application for the zoning process," he said. "That was a required cost to go through that process."
But a deadline looms, and no solution for resolving the juvenile sex offender treatment issue is at hand.
The county's special-use permit requirement for group homes housing more than one sex offender in residential areas goes into effect next February and no alternate facility is available.
Commissioners are expected to discuss their next move and the February deadline at an upcoming briefing session, Lawrence said.
The special-use permit requirement is part of an ordinance imposed nearly two years ago after residents of densely populated southeast Jefferson County demanded the ouster of juvenile sex offenders from facilities clustered in their neighborhoods.
The county also took on the responsibility of finding a publicly owned site "remote" from neighborhoods for a facility to house the young offenders.
Commissioners angered residents of rural Jefferson County near Pine last year when they announced they would build the facility in the forest on the edge of the High Meadow burn area. The proposal leaked out just a few weeks after the fire devastated that part of the county.
Area homeowners banded together, forming a grass-roots organization that successfully fought the proposal. The county was then forced to look elsewhere.
"There is no appropriate place in the eyes of the community. Anywhere we go in the county, it's unacceptable," Jefferson County spokesperson John Masson said previously.
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One county commissioner called the total spent so far "shocking," but the other two commissioners (pictured, left) defend the cost as well as the process.
"I think it (the money) has gone out the window," Commissioner Pat Holloway said. "Now that I have seen it on paper, it is shocking."
Commissioners Rick Sheehan and Michelle Lawrence point out, however, that the county has acquired $1 million in real estate.
During the past year, the county considered and rejected two sites: the Ramstetter West property north of Golden and state-owned property near Pine.
The Ramstetter West site, purchased by the county for $635,405, could become open space since part of the money used to buy it was earmarked for open space acquisition.
A second property near Golden -- the 9.3-acre McCormick property, which is contiguous to the Ramstetter property -- was purchased earlier for $365,000. That purchase brings the total land assets to $1 million, the largest part of the nearly $1.6 million the county has spent in its search for a suitable site.
The county also paid Hand Up Homes $120,000 to explore and recommend the type of treatment facility needed and to advise the county on the design of the proposed facility.
Hand Up Homes recommended its own treatment philosophy and was chosen by the county to operate the proposed facility. The county paid $4,250 to a consultant who examined the Hand Up Homes recommendation and issued a concurring opinion.
Sheehan and Lawrence said that the Jeffco site search has caught the attention of judges, the state legislature and the county's cities.
Most cities in the county limit the number of sex offenders in a single home, but now are discussing ways to resolve the issue.
"Maybe I'm a Pollyanna, but now that we've gotten the attention of the judiciary and of the cities and of the legislature . . . I really believe that we may come up with something," Lawrence said.
Sheehan also defended the $108,000 spent on an unsuccessful application for a permit the county needed to operate the proposed facility at a site north of Golden.
"Some of these costs dealt with the special-use permit application for the zoning process," he said. "That was a required cost to go through that process."
But a deadline looms, and no solution for resolving the juvenile sex offender treatment issue is at hand.
The county's special-use permit requirement for group homes housing more than one sex offender in residential areas goes into effect next February and no alternate facility is available.
Commissioners are expected to discuss their next move and the February deadline at an upcoming briefing session, Lawrence said.
The special-use permit requirement is part of an ordinance imposed nearly two years ago after residents of densely populated southeast Jefferson County demanded the ouster of juvenile sex offenders from facilities clustered in their neighborhoods.
The county also took on the responsibility of finding a publicly owned site "remote" from neighborhoods for a facility to house the young offenders.
Commissioners angered residents of rural Jefferson County near Pine last year when they announced they would build the facility in the forest on the edge of the High Meadow burn area. The proposal leaked out just a few weeks after the fire devastated that part of the county.
Area homeowners banded together, forming a grass-roots organization that successfully fought the proposal. The county was then forced to look elsewhere.
"There is no appropriate place in the eyes of the community. Anywhere we go in the county, it's unacceptable," Jefferson County spokesperson John Masson said previously.
- July 26, 2001: Jeffco Kills Golden Sex Home Plan
- April 11, 2001: Parents Outraged Over Proposed Sex Offender Group Home
- July 26, 2001: Jeffco Kills Golden Sex Home Plan
- April 11, 2001: Parents Outraged Over Proposed Sex Offender Group Home
Copyright 2002 by TheDenverChannel.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
