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February 5, 2001

County needs answer on Commons idea

- Barns area eyed for law enforcement offices; delay holding up plans for jail renovations
TRAVERSE CITY - County officials say they want an answer - soon - from the city on their plans for a new law enforcement center at the Grand Traverse Commons.
      The Grand Traverse county board wants a decision from the city commission and the Garfield Township board this month on whether the city and township will approve the county's plans for a $3.2 million law enforcement center at the century-old barns along Silver Lake Road. Officials will meet next week to set up the joint meeting.
      Board members say they want a decision on the barns property so they can determine if they need to find another site more to the city's liking.
      "We need an up or a down on this thing," said county Commissioner Larry Inman, chairman of the board's public safety committee. "We can't continue to delay these decisions."
      The county board first proposed the plan for a joint county, city and State Police law enforcement administration building in the fall of 1999. The plan has been endorsed by the Commons board and by the township planners. But city planners are opposed to the site, saying it's inconsistent with the city and the Commons master plans. There also doesn't appear to be majority support for idea on the short-handed city commission.
      The county says its needs a final decision on the barns - even if the answer from the city is "no thanks" - because the law enforcement center issue is holding up proposed renovations at the county jail. The county can't proceed with the jail changes until a new site is found for the administrative operations, officials said.
      County officials also said it's unlikely that the county will continue to pursue the barns if the city opposes the plan, because they don't want to see the city and county law enforcement agencies go their separate ways. But they'll make one last pitch to salvage the long-pending barns plan.
      "Everything I see with this project is a gain," county Administrator K. Ross Childs said. "Nobody has really been able to tell me what we're losing with this."