Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne to Propose Garfield Heights Site for New County Jail

The 72-acre site near I-480 and Transportation Blvd. that County Executive Chris Ronayne is proposing for the new county jail. Credit: Mark Oprea

Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne announced this week that he will seek to have the new county jail built on a 72-acre site near an industrial park in Garfield Heights.

Though Ronayne hasn’t yet detailed how the county would pay for the estimated $750 million campus, he said that he felt comfortable the site, situated right next to I-480 and Transportation Blvd., checked all the boxes. More so than the 46 others that were under consideration and reviewed.

In a phone call with Scene, Ronayne chalked up the plot of land as suitable in three main aspects. One, it’s large enough to host both a detention center and dispatch for sheriff’s communications. Two, it’s “centrally-located” in Cuyahoga County, minutes away from I-90, I-77 and 480. And three, the site is a greenfield, free of past pollutants, which saves the county upwards of $15,000 to $35,000 per acre for required cleanup.

“In summary, it’s the size of the site, the centrality of the site,” Ronayne told Scene, “and the cleanliness of the site.”

The proposed campus center will follow more sympathetic design principles, those learned, Ronayne said, after touring the current facility in the Justice Center downtown, long a center of criticism for its overcrowding, deaths and overdue need of repairs.

It’s why, as Cleveland.com also reported, Ronayne’s vision includes more natural light for the 1,900 beds, improved airflow and a separate wing for those dealing mental health issues.

“My foremost driver has been and continues to be how to keep persons in our custody healthy,” Ronayne said.

While Ronayne said he has most members of County Council on his side, along with Garfield Heights Mayor Matt Burke, it’s yet to be determined how residents—especially those a block or two north—will fare with a jail complex operating a five-minute walk from their doorsteps.

East 98th and Highland St. is some three blocks north of the proposed jail site. Resident Tina Miller, who lives on Highland with her daughter, said the jail might be a visual deterrent for the neighborhood’s high crime. “It’s getting out of control,” she said. Credit: Mark Oprea

Tina Miller, who lives off Highland and East 98th St. with her daughter, a minute drive from the site, told Scene standing in her driveway that she wasn’t aware of Ronayne’s proposal.

Miller believes that, due to the neighborhood’s high crime rate, the jail could act as a visual deterrent. According to LexisNexis, there have been seven carjackings in the nearby vicinity in the past two months.

“It might be even better for the neighborhood,” she said, unloading groceries from her SUV. “Because this neighborhood is getting out of control. Starting to be too much violence, too much killing.”

Looking to the recently-built Franklin County Corrective Facility as his lodestar, Ronayne sees the new site being as “reasonably contained,” and having a minimal “spillover effect,” as far as inmate presence goes.

As for being a symbol of crime prevention, Ronayne somewhat agreed.

“Hey, consider 150 to 200 new deputy sheriffs in the neighborhood,” he said. “It’s possibly a public safety benefit.”

County Council will vote on Ronayne’s legislation on June 20th.

If approved, and depending on funding, it would put to bed a years-long debate on where to build the new jail.