Patricia Doxsey is reporting in the Daily Freeman Dutchess County lawmakers met for more than four hours Mon., Feb. 29, to review an environmental assessment form for the county's $192 million jail project. The proposed facility would replace the existing county jail and Sheriff's Office facility. Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro told legislators that the state Commission of Corrections said Monday, that if the Legislature fails to approve the spending for the project on March 21, the state once again would force the county to house incarcerated people in jails outside the county. Molinaro said the state will begin to order the county to decommission the use of its temporary housing pods by April 1. Lawmakers had many questions about the environmental impact of the project, which calls for the demolition of the existing Sheriff's Office facility and the 1984 section of the county jail. Beyond the environmental impacts of the project, several legislators continued to question the need for the proposed 569-bed jail. The county has a decades-long overcrowding problem. In February, Molinaro unveiled his plans for what he calls the Justice and Transition Center. As part of the project, the county would also spend $550,000 for special populations programming and research and a comprehensive youth services and crime prevention study. Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.