CHOCOWINITY — In a town meeting that approved plans for a new public safety facility in Chocowinity as having met zoning conditions, Chocowinity Mayor Jimmy Mobley and Commissioner William Albritton made it clear they believe the public’s input should be sought when it comes to building a new jail.

“I do believe there needs to be a referendum in Beaufort County to vote on the issue of a jail, or not,” Albritton said. “I think it would behoove the county to have public input.”

Mobley said he agreed.

The comments came Tuesday night after Mid-East Commission Planner Bryant Buck, aided by engineer Bill Roark, provided site plans and conceptual renderings of the public safety facility planned for the Chocowinity Industrial Park. The drawings were used to show commissioners the facility meets the recently adapted conditions laid out in Chocowinity’s zoning ordinance.

Conceptual renderings illustrated a large, contemporary one-story building with a front public access to the sheriff’s office and emergency management. Another entrance, on one side, would provide access to the Magistrates’ Office and for inmate visitors, nearly adjacent to an enclosed sally port where offenders would be dropped off by law enforcement and further processed by detention officers.

Roark described the outward appearance of the planned facility as having the same characteristics of a nice business situated in an industrial park.

The plans for the facility had to meet several conditions set by the town’s ordinance, most of which involved the visual perception of the jail and its encroachment on adjacent properties.

For one, the principal structure must be located a minimum of 100 feet from any adjacent residential properties. Drawings indicate the primary structure as being 241 feet away from the nearest residential zone and 179 feet away from U.S. Highway 17. The tallest part of the building cannot exceed 40 feet: the plans show building is a single story with an elevated roofline of a maximum of 24 feet at entrances and sally port.

On the drawings, security fencing and an impound lot is screened by landscaping, while three small outdoor exercise yards for the inmates have opaque walls — only the ceilings are open to the sky.

“It’s as minimally visible as we can be,” Roark said.

Buck informed commissioners that the application met all conditions; a unanimous vote approved the plans, but not before Mobley and Albritton made it known the Town of Chocowinity had not asked that the jail be built in Chocowinity. Instead, town officials have simply clarified and set conditions for the industrial park’s zoning.

A new public safety facility/jail has been a hot button issue, as a 4-person majority on the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners has pushed the agenda. Three other commissioners have said public input is necessary to the process. Recently, the USDA declined funding for the project, stating that the project was not supported enough by the community to warrant federal support.