Johnson County CJCC backs invitation to Iowa City to explore joint law-enforcement and jail campus

Johnson County’s Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee (CJCC) voted by committee consensus on Aug. 14, 2025, to recommend that the Board of Supervisors extend a formal invitation to the City of Iowa City to explore a joint-law-enforcement and jail campus.

The recommendation follows a presentation by Shive-Hattery and partner OPN that analyzed program needs, two schematic layouts for a joint campus at the Riverside/Highway 6 transportation site, site constraints and cost estimates. Michael Lewis of Shive-Hattery said, “I’m pleased today to announce that we did make a favorable determination in that analysis.”

Why it matters: planners estimated a combined law-enforcement and jail campus totaling roughly 138,000 square feet (the county’s previously modeled jail plus a reduced joint law-enforcement program); Shive-Hattery reported a programmatic saving of roughly 16,000 square feet versus separate facilities. The study found the Riverside/Highway 6 site suitable because the city already owns it (no land-acquisition cost), it has landscape buffers and fits the proposed footprint outside the most constrained height and soil zones.

Key details and estimates presented - Two schematic options: one that places 44 covered parking stalls under the jail (raising the building footprint and lowering surface parking) and a second option using all…