Right now, I believe we have 58 votes from the House and 21 votes from the Senate to move it to Salt Lake City, if the vote were held right away – Rep. Jake Anderegg, R-Lehi

SALT LAKE CITY — A Republican state lawmaker said Wednesday that there are more than enough votes in both the House and the Senate to move the Utah State Prison from Draper to Salt Lake City.

"The political will is to move it to Salt Lake City," Rep. Jake Anderegg, R-Lehi, told the Deseret News, based on his informal survey of Republican and Democratic lawmakers.

Anderegg, whose district is near both the current prison and proposed sites in Eagle Mountain and Fairfield, said he wanted to know whether the prison was likely to come to Utah County.

"This is a major issue to northern Utah County," he said, because of the plans to develop the nearly 700-acre current prison site as part of the area's growing high-tech corridor along I-15.

"'Silicon Slopes' is in my area. I needed to know if this was an issue I needed to attack with everything I can possibly bring to bear, or if this was something that was going to be resolved through the process," Anderegg said.

He said the results of his own vote count suggest there won't be much of a fight.

"Right now, I believe we have 58 votes from the House and 21 votes from the Senate to move it to Salt Lake City, if the vote were held right away," Anderegg said. Those totals would be a veto-proof majority in both bodies.

House Majority Assistant Whip Brad Wilson, R-Kaysville, co-chairman of the Legislature's Prison Relocation Commission, said he had no idea Anderegg was polling lawmakers and called it "premature and inconsistent" with the process put in place to move the prison.

"I can tell you with 100 percent certainty, ever have we talked about doing anything like that in our leadership meetings," Wilson said. "I'm not supportive of that approach."

In a news release issued later by the commission, Wilson labeled Anderegg's statements "an unwelcome and damaging intrusion into a long and detailed evaluation process" that appeared to be "motivated by a political need."

There are four sites on the commission's shortlist, in Eagle Mountain and Fairfield in Utah County; in Salt Lake City, west of Salt Lake City International Airport; and in Grantsville, near the Wal-Mart distribution center.

Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker said it is "astounding" that lawmakers would be weighing in before the commission, which includes seven members of the Legislature, completes an ongoing technical analysis of each site.

"We expect the state to do a fair and honest evaluation" before the commission recommends a site, said Becker, a Democrat who served as House minority leader. "I hope this is not a reflection of how the state is going to make a decision."

The mayor said the city has compiled information detailing problems with the Salt Lake site, located near I-80 and 7200 West, and close to both an industrial park and wetlands.

"I know how much information we have," he said. "The Salt Lake City site, by our estimation, is a terrible site. It is extremely expensive. It harms the state’s and our city’s economic development opportunities."

The commission held an open house in Eagle Mountain on Tuesday night, the third and final such event for the communities under consideration to replace the aging Point of the Mountain facility.

Anderegg said he does not know what recommendation to expect from the commission, which has scheduled the first public hearing on the proposed sites for 6 p.m. June 16 in Room 30 of the House Building at the state Capitol.

"At the end of the day, a recommendation is just that. Politics are going to enter into it," Anderegg said.

He said there were far fewer protestors at the Salt Lake City open house than in Eagle Mountain or Grantsville.

Wilson said the commission has chosen not to receive any information about the technical analysis underway by consultants hired by the state until all their work is completed.

"We wanted to see it all compiled, side by side," Wilson said of the report that's not expected until early July. He said once the commission has the final analysis, its decision "will either go very fast, or we will decide we have to dig deeper."

That could mean going beyond the Aug. 1 deadline set last session, he said.

"I would like to get this done," Wilson said. But he said relocating the prison is "a multi-generational decision, and we will take as much time as we need to. I do feel like we are getting close."

Wilson said there is support for the Salt Lake site, seen as closer to courts, hospitals and other services, as well as having easier access via I-80 for prison employees, volunteers and inmate families.

"I know that the Salt Lake site is one that a lot of people thinks makes sense. The fact of the matter is, we have four sites that can all make sense," he said. "You have a hard time arguing against proximity."

Gov. Gary Herbert has said he will call lawmakers into special session once the commission makes a recommendation on the preferred site for the $550 million, 4,000-bed prison.

The governor, who has the power to veto whatever site is selected by the Legislature, said Wednesday he still expects lawmakers to consider all the possible sites for a new prison.

"I think we will do what is best for all of Utah and find a location if necessary," Herbert said. "I've said all along, if there's a better location than Draper, let's find it. If there's not, let's keep it there."

But he said rebuilding the prison in Draper raises questions.

"There's a lot of associated parts of that," the governor said. "Can we actually build in place without just coming up with a baling wire and chewing gum result? So I'm confident the process is the appropriate one."

Some GOP lawmakers are pushing for a reconsideration of the decision to move the prison, including Rep. Merrill Nelson, R-Grantsville, who is also having legislative staff review the $1.8 billion economic benefit reported in a commission study.

Draper Mayor Troy Walker said the prison has been in his community long enough.

"I think the study is sound. I think the economics is clear. We've had it a long time," Walker said. "Other cities can say they don't want it. Well, guess what? We've had it for 60 years."

Another Utah County lawmaker, Rep. David Lifferth, R-Eagle Mountain, posted on his blog in January that the governor had told him Salt Lake was "the wisest location" for a new prison, even though it "may end up staying at the Draper site."

Lifferth later backed off the statements, based on a private conversation he had with Herbert following an open house for lawmakers after the governor's State of the State speech.

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