HOLLIDAYSBURG — The general manager of the Alto-Reste Park Cemetery Association is asking Blair County commissioners to find another location for a new prison because the association doesn’t want to sell.

Commissioners, who identified the association’s 77 acres in Allegheny Township as the preferred site for a new prison, voted 2 to 1 Thursday to advertise their intent to initiate eminent domain proceedings involving two separate parcels, including the association’s acreage.

The other parcel of seven to nine acres would offer access to the site from West Plank Road.

“By law and by statute, the county or government has the right to take a property for (governmental) use, even if the people don’t want to give up that property,” commissioners Chairman Dave Kessling explained Thursday to a neighboring property owner, who also encouraged the county to find another site.

“Just saying the words, ‘prison in my backyard,’ makes my stomach churn,” Bonnie Miller of 15 Hillside Drive told commissioners. She said she and husband, Perry, have made that location their home for 30 years and never imagined this potential change.

“We humbly ask you not to make us the people with the prison in our backyard,” Miller said.

Geoff Behrens, vice president and general manager of the cemetery association, told commissioners that when R.P. Good founded Alto-Reste Park in 1925 and accepted the first burial, Good promised Blair County residents that the grounds would provide a place of peace for generations.

While the county’s plans for building a prison don’t involve current burial grounds, the plans identify acreage that the association has designated for future expansion and burial sites.

“This isn’t about money,” Behrens said after the commissioners’ meeting, where he spoke of the association’s desire to preserve what are hallowed grounds based on how they’re used now and in the future.

“We rejected (the county’s) offer because our property is not for sale,” Behrens said. “It’s for use by our community … Imagine the impact on over 20,000 families who have entrusted us with the care of their loved ones’ final resting place, a place of peace, a place of beauty.”

Webster, who is familiar with the proposed site, said after the commissioners’ meeting concluded that the county is interested in acquiring only a portion of the association’s land.

“There will still be grounds for expansion (of the cemetery), as well as a tree buffer on the property because we wouldn’t want to take out all of the trees,” Webster said.

Before Kessling and Webster voted in favor of advertising the county’s intent to initiate eminent domain proceedings, Burke asked about putting the action on hold for a week, to allow time to look into a 150-acre site referenced during Thursday’s meeting as available for sale within the Hollidaysburg Area School District.

Perry Miller suggested another look at the land behind the Altoona Grand Hotel, off Sheraton Drive, where there are no residences that would be affected.

The Sheraton Drive site and a 76-acre site off Route 36 near the Chimney Rocks area were included in a study exploring pros and cons for prison construction sites. Engineers with TranSystems, the firm that did the study, identified land access and utility issues with the Sheraton Drive and Chimney Rocks sites.

“I’m sure people would like us to put this prison on some mountain somewhere,” Kessling said. “But we’re the ones who have to pay for the electricity, the sewer, the water. And we have to worry about the transportation costs and getting (inmates) to and from the court system.”

Since commissioners authorized TranSystems to move forward with the study, they’ve shown interest in potential sites for the prison and last year, solicited the services of real estate broker Richard Johnston to assist with finding sites.

“I think what I need people to understand is that this is not a knee-jerk reaction,” Kessling said. “Many pieces of land have been looked at and assessed and evaluated. But there’s still a lot of steps to be taken.”

Commissioners have shown interest in building a new prison to replace the one on Mulberry Street, built in 1869 and expanded in 1983, described as overcrowded and outdated.

The TranSystems study proposes construction of a 440-bed, 165,950-square-foot facility, with a construction cost ranging from a low of $96.27 million to a high of $123.16 million.

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 814-946-7456.