Vancouver, Delta, Surrey seek new jail facility

Metro Vancouver mayors say they have found three new possible locations to build a new Lower Mainland jail, but none of them is on the list of options given to them by the province.

The provincial government originally gave the mayors until September to pick from a list of 58 possible sites, after the province's preferred choice at an olddetention centrein Burnaby threatened to become a hot button issue just before the May provincial election.

But none of the three sites put forth by the mayors on Tuesday for the new pretrial holding facilityis on the province's list.

Surrey says it's open to expanding the existing pretrial centre in that city, while Delta has suggested putting the new remand centre on an old landfill in an industrial area near River Road. A third proposal is for an unspecified location in Vancouver.

No snub intended

Lois Jackson, Delta's mayor and Metro Vancouver regional district board chair, said the choices are not a deliberate attempt to snub the province it's just a case of local councils knowing their communities best.

'Our job is done.... Here are three possible locations that we feel may be quite acceptable to our communities,' Lois Jackson, Metro Vancouver board chair

"Some of the discussion revolved around the fact that perhaps the local community would propose these different sites, given that the old report was somewhat dated," Jackson said Tuesday.

It was that perceived lack of local knowledge that aroused a storm of protest around the original site in the Willingdon area that the province choose last winter, and Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan was still wary of the remand centre being imposed on his city.

"The provincial government has shown on previous occasions that it's prepared to overrule municipalities if it feels the provincial interest is being served," Corrigan said.

Final decision up to province

Whatever happens next is up to the provincial government, Jackson said.

"Our job is done. The Metro organization and the mayors in particular have said, 'Here are three possible locations that we feel may be quite acceptable to our communities,' and we we'll now leave that decision up to the ministry," Jackson said.

A spokesperson for the Solicitor General's Ministrytold CBC Newsthey have not yet received the list from the mayors, a long list of criteria will need to be reviewed before any decision can be made andit could be months before a location is chosen.

The province has said it needs the facility to deal with overcrowding in the two other pretrial facilities in the Lower Mainland, whichare already operating above 200 per cent of capacity.