CCA buys 108 acres at Four Lakes for prison

Hartsville's Four Lakes Industrial Park will apparently be the site of a 2,000 bed medium security Corrections Corporation of America prison, bringing approximately 340 jobs and $100,000,000 in capital ... via Macon County Times

[Malone]

CCA proposed prison with over 2500 inmate beds for Hartsville TN is locate at the Four Lake Power Com site 554 acres owned operated by Trousdale Smith Macon Wilson Sumner Counties this land is actually owned by TN state tax payers The announcement for the proposed facility and site was to be announced according to our local officials by CCA reps in August Yet to date the citizens have not been granted a public town meeting to ask questions of this company and to have open dialog There have been several requests for a public meeting So with this most recent news report it appears a Public Meeting will occur after the fact after all contracts and agreements are signed?
It has been said by many of ours officials that this has been a "done deal" from the start. The democratic process hasn't been allowed with this project and some say the project has been in the works for over a year, yet only announced a few months ago.
A group of residents formed to ask questions RAAP (Residents Asking About Prison) they as well have not received answers to many of their questions and have had to obtain legal counsel to request records under the Freedom of Information Act- Sunshine Law.
This prison entrance is to be located on Starlite RD a residential area with many families children, disabled individuals, homes farms My family and I are among many who live on Starlite Rd very close to the prison We have as neighbors to this project submitted a list of requests to the CCA prison company to "Protect our Interests" safety of our homes, children, families and property. The requests are very basic and simple
Separate road entrance to site for all construction, employee entrance, inmate transport and service vehicles Starlite Rd not to be an option Exploration of other road entrances for the prison facility
Land value guarantee from CCA for length of land ownership Updated/current land appraisals reimbursed by CCA Land owners to choose land Appraisal Company of choice
Property security upgrades for land owners at the discretion of the land owner
Noise control
Written agreement of all concerns
Geo thermal/green building all utilities under ground
CCA took over 8 weeks to respond to the basic needs of our neighborhood and their response was NO to all the basic needs that we sought
This for profit Prison Company appears to be calling the shots in our county and appears to be a new neighborhood bully
Just last week our elected officials voted to obtain loans and grants for what CCA says is the counties cost of upgrading infrastructure of 6 million dollars cost to our meager county. The infrastructure must be in place before this prison can be built. CCA reports being a 4 billion dollar company
The state will pay CCA $52 per day per inmate and they will receive $73 per day for federal inmates - for 2500 - 3000 inmates. Do the math this for profit Prison Company will make millions the first year from the Hartsville location alone So why can they not meet the simple request of the nearby neighbors of the prison?
Why will they not they provide the safety and security, and peace of mind that we have respectfully asked for? We only want to protect our families and livelihoods as would anyone Why does our small poor County have to borrow 6 million dollars when this prison company has billions?The expected tax -base to the county will be 400,000. per year from this prison This does not appear to be a lot of money for the county when one takes into consideration the "real cost to the county" Especially the enormous cost to the Starlite Rd families who will suffer tremendously with property value losses livelihoods impacted and the daily fear for lives and safety Starlite Rd will in fact have to bare the entire burden of this prison and all negative impact that it creates In fact Starlite Rd families and homes are to be the sacrificial lamb? Contracts are being signed prior to a public meeting?
Where is democracy?

[John]

This is a minimum security prison not really whole lot to fear. As for the 6 million trousdale has to upgrade the water and sewage no matter what but if the prison builds they will not have to raise taxes if they dont they will raise taxes. As for this small poor county do you ever think that it is small and poor because everytime someone tries to bring anything here the whole county is against it and forces them out sooner or later you have to let some business come here.

[malone]

Update:
According to Four Lake meeting minutes - CCA offered a mere $2,546.30 per acre for the 108 acres $275,000. Sumner's County Hank Thompson objects and stated that they get $120,000. per acre at Sumner Co. industrial park. In the end it - CCA proposed $3,240.74/acre and the FLRDA (Four Lake)executive committee agrees to $350,000. for the 108 acres land that is at the very least worth over 1 M dollars. Plus - four Lake has agreed to make the "site ready" at a cost to them (4-Lake) of 1.5 M. Where is 1.5 M going to come from (tax payers?) especially with agreeing to the mere sum of $350,000. for land that is among the most valuable in the state - The amount CCA has offered doesn't even cover a third of the amount it will take to make "pad or site ready".
No wonder we are economically distressed in this area (Trousdale, Smith, Macon County) We need industry - and everyone wants industry - but should we be taken advantage of in this way? Analogy: Giving a whole water melon to get a mere seed?