Las Colinas Women's Detention Facility

onion
Santee has seen tremendous revitalization thanks to the hard work of many visionaries. The City’s community and economic development planning process for the Town Center area have resulted in a beautiful park along San Diego River, transit-oriented retail centers and housing and a Class A office park. The Las Colinas Women’s Detention Facility is a somewhat unlikely resident in Santee’s Town Center area, nestled away from the street and hidden from view on a 14-acre site. Now, the County, which owns that parcel of land, is planning to replace Las Colinas with a 45-acre “jail camp,” including low rise barracks, razor wire fencing and guard towers. Definitely not what the city’s visionaries have worked so hard to achieve! If the County moves forward with its plan, this Town Center model of smart growth will be forever blighted. Expanding the jail as proposed would mean that the detention facility would butt up against a high tech office park, homes, senior housing, a church and even a pre-school. Additionally, a land use study found that the County could make up to $89 million on the sale of the Santee land in question and easily use less valuable land they already own in Otay Mesa. Any land use project that could result in a total of $165 million in lost taxpayer resources (including lost revenue and devaluation of adjacent County property) is just plain bad, but add in the terrible effects the new jail would have on a burgeoning urban center and this idea deserves an onion!
Project Information
Project Address: 
900 Cottonwood Avenue, Santee, CA 92071
Project Architect/ Designer: 
Unknown
Image
COS Las Colinas Expansion Map 6-08.jpg
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Comments:

A Big, 45 Acre Onion to the County Board of Supervisors

Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 09/09/2009 - 08:25.
I just can't wait to vote this group out next election. Someone is doing some backhanded deals to get this passed. You must be kidding me that they would approve this. Someone needs to plant a 45 Acre Onion on each of their yards. The City of Santee needs to sue, sue, sue the County of San Diego over this major train wreck decision. Something that started out as a Rehab facilty for girls ages 14-17 and is now going to be a 45 acre jail site in the center of a growing, redeveloped city, makes me think that there are other motives here. Have they driven down Mission Gorge road lately? What idiot would expand a jail here?!

Las Colinas Detention Facility

Submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 09/05/2009 - 06:07.
The County Board of Supervisor's deserves a sack of "onions" for the decision to replace and expand the LCDF in downtown Santee. The five Supervisors have violated the trust of the voters. The purpose of their (the five) existence is to insure that any measure or proposal submitted for approval to the county; whether submitted by a county department or other entity, should meet the criteria of (1) "Its fiscal impact" (2) "consistency between planning and zoning", (3) "Its effect on the use of land" (5) "Its impact on the community's ability to attract and retain business and employment", (6) "It's impact on the uses of vacant parcels of land", (7)"open space, traffic conjestion, exisiting business districts and developed asrea designated for revitalization". It is blatantly obvious that none of the above was throughly considered when approving a 45 acre compound in the middle of a young and developing city town center. These five just blew the value of the rest of the property owned by taxpayers. What another colossal boondoggle.

County Deserves an Onion for this Travesty

Submitted by anna w. on Tue, 09/01/2009 - 08:04.
One look at this map, and it's obvious that the County has no business placing a 45-acre jail camp in the middle of Santee's downtown area. At the June 24th hearing, Assistant Sheriff Guerin confirmed that the exterior fencing will have barbed wire, which will be visible to adjacent properties. Guerin also confirmed that the County has done no economic impact studies comparing this site to other potential sites. This open-air jail, with its barracks, guard towers and barbed-wire fencing, will be the size of the nearby Trolley Square shopping center, and located next to the new corporate office park in downtown Santee. This is a travesty in planning principles and public decision making.

Las Colinas Women's Detention Facility

Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 08/31/2009 - 19:12.
There is no way any detention facility would ever warrant an Orchid and the mere proposed location of this one does warrant an Onion. The women who are taken here have broken the law and do not deserve any comforts of a modern facility nor views of a downtown area of any city. They should be taken as far out into the hot, dry desert as possible to be certain that in the event of an escape, they have no place to run and hide and to make them as uncomfortable as possible, since they had no consideration for anyone while they were breaking the law.

you know what

Submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 01/23/2010 - 04:04.
some women do not really belong in the detention facility. Some of whom may have mistakenly been arrested. So you mean to tell me that belong far off, somewhere in the desert!

Onions to Las Colinas expansion plan

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 08/28/2009 - 14:56.
Give it an ONION! What a horrible idea to triple the land footprint for a jail in the middle of a downtown area. I understand the facility is antiquated and is in need of an upgrade. I also understand the need to create a larger facility, build a second facility somewhere else, or utilize the current East Mesa facility which will be empty in a few years to relieve the overcrowding at Las Colinas. But creating a Taj Mahal with so much open space on the inside for the inmates while the community gets to look at barbed wire from the outside? I heard there will even be guard towers on the perimeter! Horrible design and plan! Give it second ONION! This is not what is wanted, needed, nor appropriate for this location! I do not agree with the plan and do not want my tax dollars spent on this project!

Horrible idea to have a prison east of San Diego

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 08/25/2009 - 20:34.
Think long-term people! The only way San Diego can expand communities is building east. There is a limit to the communities, homes, schools that can be built south of San Diego because of the border, limit to the north because of orange county and existing cities, limit to the west because of the ocean and now they are going to depreciate the east if they dump a prison there instead of keeping the opportunity to continue building east of San Diego open for offices, homes, schools, churches, associations. By having a city that is dominated by a prison kills the appeal of moving/building east, which is the only direction that San Diego can really grow...think of 20-40 years from now. South and north of San Diego will be saturated and the potential for growth in East San Diego will be lost because of a prison.

Las Colinas Expansion, an Onion, Onion, Onion !!!!

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 08/18/2009 - 00:59.
Remember your County Board of Supervisors when you go to the polls next election. There is a great difference in a holding facility and a jail. What this project will do to Santee as a community, the board of supervisors will do to any community. The wasted money they are prepared to spend of our taxpayer dollars is more evidence of lack of concern for San Diego County. These are elected officials by us the people. Why is it, again we are unheard. This is the wrong place for this project......the first in planning is location. Shame on all of you who had a part in this one, this project without a doubt deserves an Onion.

bad

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 08/18/2009 - 00:06.
bad, bad, bad idea

Consequences for years to come

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 10/28/2008 - 19:42.
The jail expansion proposal is like a stick in the eye to good urban planning. Kudos to Santee for all they've been able to do to create a vibrant, transit-oriented town center. The County should locate the expanded jail with the other jails in Otay Mesa so they can share services, surely saving taxpayer money and also saving Santee's great, mixed use urban core.

No place for a jail

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 10/28/2008 - 18:31.
Expanding the jail in Santee will threaten homes, families and businesses in Santee. The city is currently in the midst of redeveloping its city and a jail will harm the future growth of Santee. Expanding it in the heart of Santee will create a huge eyesore in the city. Santee is no place to expand the jail. There are other places in the County for this jail.

Onions to All

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 10/28/2008 - 18:17.
Not only does this project deserve an onion, the County Board of Supervisors and the Sheriff's Department also deserve onions for thinking that Santee is the best place for Las Colinas. If you haven't been to Santee lately, go and see what is going on there. The city is bustling with new home building, major retailers, parks, and an beautiful office park in the heart of downtown. A new movie theater has just been approved by the City Council. One sure way to bring all the progress in Santee to a screeching halt is to expand Las Colinas. Put the jail where it belongs -- in a rural setting!

Egregious error in land use

Submitted by besozap on Mon, 10/20/2008 - 17:23.
The heart of a city is given a detention facility? With so much unused arid land in the outskirts of the county, why oh why would the County make us all suffer daily with this to look at and think about? Surrounding families, schools, a retail center, and a community center -- all hoping for people in charge to act as though they know what they're doing!!!! To think that a primary argument for this is that it's a convenient drive when transporting prisoners?!! Yikes. I'm afraid!

Like we need one more

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 09/23/2008 - 22:31.
Like we need one more detention facility anywhere in California. Why not start by pondering once more over “right and wrong”.