September 11, 2008
Meeting on Proposed Prison Draws Large Crowd in Rachel

Photo by Dave Maxwell
Crowd at rachel Public Meeting.

By Dave Maxwell, Staff Writer

Residents of Rachel don¡¦t want a private prison brought into their community, or at least a large percentage of them don¡¦t. Landowner Jim Toreson says he would like to have a private prison facility constructed on about 100 acres of the 1,000 acres he owns in Rachel.

The two-hour public meeting held September 6 at the fire engine barn in Rachel brought together townspeople, Toreson, and members of the Lincoln County Planning Commission, to discuss both the pros and cons of the issue. Planning Department Director Clint Wertz said the purpose of the meeting was to gather public information to be considered at the September 11 Planning Commission meeting at the Court House in Pioche.

Toreson, owns about 1,000 acres west of town, some of which has been zoned for commercial and industrial use, and on part of which he wants to put the private prison. He also hopes to be able to attract other investors, which in turn he believes, will generate jobs in the Rachel area. He told the assembled group he definitely is going to do something with the land to develop it, but at the same time doesn¡¦t want to do anything that will hurt the town, because in the end it would hurt him, too. ¡§I wouldn¡¦t be shooting myself in the foot, I¡¦d be shooting myself in the head,¡¨ he stated.

Toreson is currently seeking a special use permit from the Planning Commission for a 2,000 bed prison of minimum-to-medium security. However, Toreson admits he has no interested buyer yet. ¡§I don¡¦t know if I can get a prison to come here or not¡Kwe¡¦re trying to get a special use permit to see if we can¡K.but I don¡¦t have a prison right now to put in.¡¨ In addition, Toreson said he has considered other uses for the property, and told those in attendance to check his website www.toreson.com which refers to what Toreson is calling the Lincoln Business Center.

A number of residents spoke of their concerns that a private prison, while advertised at being a minimum/medium security prison, would bring in a lot of people who would work at the prison who might have questionable backgrounds and habits of their own.

Planning Director Wertz told the group that the seven-member Planning Commission has several ways to approach the granting of a special use permit and does have to make a decision based on what the request was. And he added, even if the special use permit is approved, ¡§This is the first step in what will mostly likely be a process of between 18-24 months for the applicant (Toreson) to really get something going.¡¨

Options now before the Planning Board are one of the following:

1. Deny the special use permit application.
2. Approve it outright. No conditions.
3. Approve it with a host of conditions.

¡§The conditions,¡¨ Wertz told the audience, ¡§could be your concerns,¡¨ that could later be worked into a development agreement between the developer and the County.

Some of the concerns about the prison voiced by those attending the meeting included:

• Drug and alcohol use, which is always around prisons, would increase in the community.
• Possibility of much higher traffic flow. „O Local residents would move away.
• Prison workers would not be very well trained, and essentially just be getting on-the-job training.
• If anyone should escape, would the Lincoln County Sheriff be able to go after prisoners from a privately owned institution?
• Lights from the prison would ruin the lovely sunsets and stargazing activities.
• That Toreson himself lives in California.
• Where would children of worker¡¦s families go to school?
• Would there be enough water for everyone¡¦s use?
• If the private prison closed because it was not making money, would the State of Nevada be forced to take over operation.
• Sewer and wastewater from the prison would impact the Rachel community.

Toreson answered most of these concerns point-by-point as much as he could, especially about the type of prison that would come. ¡§The prison would be filled with short-termers. They are not violent offenders. It¡¦s like Martha Stewart when she went to jail,¡¨ he said. That drew quite a few guffaws from the crowd.

Not all questions could be answered at the meeting and Toreson readily admits major issues remain.

Local residents indicated some other type of business would be more acceptable and Toreson said he is working on other ideas for the property, even though a private prison is his primary choice. He said he has considered building a solar panel manufacturing plant, or a facility to produce electricity from solar energy. However, he said problems arise with solar energy production or solar panel manufacturing in the Rachel area because there are no high-capacity power lines running along Highway 375. In the meantime, a 500kv line is being proposed to run north-south through Nevada and go right through Dry Lake Valley, and solar energy would best be located there. Wind generation has also been considered, Toreson said, but noted the Air Force doesn¡¦t like the tall rotor blades because it ¡§messes up their radar.¡¨

Toreson told the audience the question he faces from the get-go is ¡§How do you get started? What can you do that will bring in the jobs?¡¨ He said he wants to develop his commercial area with something that will have the stability to initially ¡§create 200-300 jobs directly, and then create about 100 or 200 other jobs indirectly¡Kand will not be here today and gone tomorrow.¡¨ He said he felt the private prison industry ¡§fits the bill¡¨ as a first choice.