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May 11, 2009
MI: Robert Scott Women's Prison to Close
Women's prison to close Sunday to save state money
BY CECIL ANGEL • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER • May 10, 2009
The Robert Scott Correctional Facility, a women's prison in Northville Township, is to close May 17 as part of the state's cost-savings measures, meaning dozens of jobs will leave the township.
But the closure also could mean a boost in property taxes for the township after the land is sold and owned privately.
Township officials say they would like to be included in meetings about the future of the prison, which will be turned over to the real estate division of the state Office of Management and Budget.
For now, the township collects only $10,000 annually from the state in lieu of taxes to provide fire protection for the prison and the 1-square-mile Maybury Park, the other state-owned property in the township, Northville Township Manager Chip Snider said.
The 35-acre prison property is well-placed near freeways. The township's appraiser said that if the area was zoned commercial, real estate could go for about $150,000 an acre, and if it is zoned residential, it would be priced at $50,000 an acre.
By the end of the month, the facility will be mothballed and the last of the staff reassigned to other prisons, said Russ Marlan, spokesman for the Department of Corrections. The 880 inmates are being moved to the former Huron Valley Complex-Men in Ypsilanti, and will be out of the facility by May 17.
"It's on schedule," Marlan said.
Snider said he expects calls from people interested in buying the property, which is in the Beck Road and 5 Mile area.
The former 414-acre Northville Regional Psychiatric Hospital closed in July 2003 and was sold for $31.5 million to Real Estate Interests Group Inc. Northville in 2005. The township is in talks to buy 332 acres.
Township officials have no specific zoning plans for the prison site but Snider says it's likely that it will be zoned commercial.
http://www.freep.com/article/20090510/NEWS02/905100536/1004/NEWS02/Women+s+prison+to+close+Sunday+to+save+state+money+
Posted by lois at May 11, 2009 11:10 PM