The Blair County Commissioners have identified a nearly 80-acre property that they hope to purchase for the new prison and are moving forward with steps toward a purchase agreement.

The commissioners have conducted the land search in complete secrecy thus far, with several neighboring municipalities and members of the Blair County Prison Board kept out of the planning process.

The Mirror, through investigation, has determined the property’s location, but is not releasing that information at this time after threat of a lawsuit from Commissioner David Kessling.

According to law, the commissioners can legally work in secret toward a purchase agreement, but are not allowed to make the actual purchase until the details are made public and voted on in a public meeting. Any executive session held to discuss the property must be publicly announced, according to the Sunshine Act.

By keeping the property’s location under wraps as details are ironed out, the county protects its purchasing power.

Kessling is concerned that another buyer could swoop in, purchase the property and then charge the commissioners an exponentially higher price if the parcel is identified prematurely.

According to Kessling, the commissioners sent a letter of intent to purchase the property to the landowner earlier this fall, but have not received the signed letter back.

“We’re in a hurry (to buy this property), but they’re not in a rush, so I’m trying to push them on that,” Kessling said.

The commissioners contracted TranSystems Corp. in 2022 to complete a feasibility study on the best way to replace the current Blair County Prison in downtown Hollidaysburg, which has incurred multiple lawsuits filed by inmates alleging overcrowded, unsanitary conditions and a persistent rodent problem in recent years.

The original building was built in 1868-69, undergoing several expansion and modernization efforts to increase its capacity to about 400 individuals.

TranSystems has recommended that the construction of a new, larger facility is the best option to address capacity concerns.

The commissioners have considered a number of potential sites across Blair County in the past three years, including a parcel adjacent to Alto-Reste Cemetery, before finally closing in on the current candidate in late 2025.

The forested, hilly property is currently unoccupied and accessible by a main road in central Blair County, within about 10 miles of the courthouse in Hollidaysburg.

Total secrecy

Top officials from multiple municipalities near the parcel said that they never received notice from the commissioners that they were considering building the new prison near their communities.

A construction project of that size could affect local property values, change traffic patterns and impact fragile ecosystems in the area.

Blair County District Attorney Pete Weeks, who serves on the Prison Board, said that he has received “no information regarding the site or where it is located” as of Dec. 24.

Weeks said that he is interested in learning more about the cost of acquiring the site, particularly any additional transportation costs incurred by the county, since the new prison would be more than double the distance from the current prison to the Blair County Courthouse.

Prison Board member and Blair County President Judge Wade A. Kagarise said he has no knowledge of the property or its location, and will seek more information from the commissioners before commenting on the matter.

A leading official from a borough near the property said he has “no opinion on the matter, positive or negative,” saying that the new prison “has to go somewhere.”

The official said that he will “keep a keen eye” on any information that will be released in the future, which will inform his opinion.

Environmental concerns

One local official with knowledge of the parcel said that a previous effort to build on the site uncovered a colony of bats inside a small cave on the property.

Four of the nine bat species native to the commonwealth are classified threatened and endangered by the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

State and federal law provides special protection for endangered species and other legal guidelines for altering cave systems.

A County Natural Heritage Inventory conducted in 2006 — the most recent survey available — did not identify any legally protected land within or around the parcel, although recent developments could render that obsolete.

Kessling said that the commissioners would conduct preliminary environmental impact studies on the property before signing the final sale agreement.

Commissioner Amy Webster previously said that a serious environmental concern could render the land unusable for the prison, resetting the search “back to square one.”

The game commission did not return a request for comment.

The landowner did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Mirror Staff Writer Conner Goetz is at 814-946-7535.