SAGUACHE — Boulder Architect Todd Ficken PD of F&D International presented preliminary plans for a new 35,000 square foot Saguache County jail at the work session held by commissioners Tuesday.
Using what he called a bubble graph, Ficken demonstrated where different sections of the jail will be located. The jail is currently designed to hold 55 detainees.
The jail building will include the sheriff’s office, training and conference rooms, interview rooms, a booking and intake area, a kitchen, laundry, shower and detox area, plus mechanical and electric rooms. Cells will be double occupancy, separated into male and female divisions. Day rooms will be provided for each section. Four pods could be used for maximum security.
The plan includes a secure, contained exercise area within the jail complex itself. “You can see the sky, but it’s a walled in area,” Ficken noted. A handgun and rifle range is also included in the plan. The building will be built to withstand natural disasters, he added.
The graph shows the jail situated on a proposed 39.5-acre site at the Saguache County Airport with an entrance from Highway 114. “From a jail standpoint this is a good spot,” Ficken said. “There is access to a state road, it’s close to the courthouse, but not in town, so there are limited transportation costs and the land is relatively level.”
The 39.5-acre site, if agreed upon by commissioners, would offer plenty of room for the gun range, a large parking lot and an evidence shed. Some title problems would need to be cleaned up and possibly a new survey done, Ficken commented, because the survey and plat do not seem to agree. A runway at the airport also would have to be shortened but would have zero impact on planes coming in for a landing.

Commissioner Tim Lovato told Ficken he has a more recent survey that might clear up some of the problems. Sheriff Dan Warwick told commissioners that a well will be drilled to supply water to the site and would then be available for others to fill water tanks for their homes and businesses.
The construction schedule will depend on how quickly the county can get the numbers needed to move forward with the jail, Warwick said. To place a mill levy on the ballot for the 2020 election, everything will need to be turned into the county clerk’s office sometime in August, County Clerk Trish Gilbert said.
Commissioner Jason Anderson said the mill levy could be placed on the 2021 ballot as well. But there would be a greater chance of the measure being considered by a larger number of voters in 2020, Gilbert observed, because more voters turn out in a presidential election year.