CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) — After five years of planning and debate, local officials ceremoniously broke ground on renovations for the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail on Thursday.

“It’s been a five-year process to get these changes going,” Superintendent Col. Martin Kumer told Cville Right Now, “but honestly, these changes have needed to take place for the last quarter-of-a-century.”

The renovations will add more space for outdoor recreation that will be attached directly to the inmates’ units, 14 beds designed for individuals suffering from mental illness and more private individual rooms for inmates and staff. The plans will also increase the square footage of the building, as the current cells in the 1975-portion of the jail do not meet the minimum standards.

“The cell sizes of the new ones are almost three times as big as what they currently are in the 1970s addition,” he said. “So that, even in itself, is huge for everybody.”

The facility is designed to serve the City of Charlottesville, as well as Albemarle and Nelson County. Charlottesville Vice Mayor Brian Pinkston and Vice Chair of the Albemarle Board of Supervisors Diantha McKeel were both on hand at the ground-breaking to celebrate the occasion.

“We had a facility that was 50 years old,” McKeel said, “and it really didn’t provide ADA services for folks. It was antiquated. Old HVAC system. Old air conditioning, heat. So, to be able to provide a new facility for not only the inmates, but for our employees and even their families and attorneys that are coming in and out of this facility. This renovation will upgrade all of that, all those facilities for them.”

The event came after plenty of debate on the project during its approval process, which led to a scaled-back version which will cost $49 million. Still, the project had its detractors even after it was scaled-back, with the plan narrowly passing an approval vote from the Charlottesville City Council 3-2.

“I continue to believe that it’s the ethical, right, moral thing to do this project,” Pinkston said, “because of the current way that the building is now.”

Pinkston added that he believes the renovation will be “a really good project,” despite facing issues like tariffs and rising taxes impacting construction.

“The construction world in general is very topsy-turvy right now,” he said, “but I think we’ve steered a good path through here. We don’t get everything we want, but we’ll get everything we need.”

Kumer echoed Pinkston’s sentiment, saying they hit all the “major things we wanted to do,” and while there’s a few things the renovations won’t 100% finish, the project’s plan includes “a little bit of everything,” and what’s left will be taken care of in the future.

Overall, all involved with the project expressed pride over being able to get construction in motion.

“We certainly had some concerns from the community,” McKeel said. “Most of the concerns, I think, we were able to talk through the problems, and come together at the end, and here we are. We’re at the ceremonial shovels in the ground, and it’s just exciting.”