CALDWELL — Canyon County officials say the county plans to sell a 24-acre parcel of land originally intended for construction of a new jail and justice center.

Commissioners voted to purchase the land at Homedale Road and Cleveland Boulevard in July for $2.55 million, county spokeswoman Angie Sillonis said. The county had previously been leasing the land from the Arthur Jerome family trust for $150,000 per year since April 2006. Sillonis said the county plans to put the land up for auction on a Web site called Bid4Assets. The auction will begin at 8 a.m. Oct. 22 and close at 3 p.m. Oct. 24, and will be posted for review and qualification a month earlier,.

Sillonis said people have to put down a deposit of $5,000 and pre-qualify to be eligible for bidding. The starting bid will be $3.8 million and the bid increment will be $25,000.

“We have very successfully used the Bid4Assets online auction service before in selling county property, so it seemed like the logical choice in securing the maximum return on this property,” Commission Chairman Matt Beebe said.

Sillonis said the county’s previous auctions on the site have received a good number of bids and that the winning bid usually exceeds the minimum bid by a substantial amount.

Beebe said the county had initially considered using the land for other construction necessitated by growth in the area, but officials decided it was too large for any foreseeable use.

Last year voters failed to provide enough support to pass a bond that would have used property taxes to build an $80 million justice center and jail on the land.

The proposal upset some who protested the location of a jail along the busy thoroughfare. Others questioned the legality of the lease agreement and the process in which meetings were held.

In August of that year, nine local residents filed a lawsuit against the county asking the court to decide whether the lease constitutes an “ordinary and necessary” expense and whether the county violated open meetings laws in adopting the agreement to purchase the land. The suit is currently on appeal to the Idaho Supreme Court.

Caldwell resident and lawsuit plaintiff Paul Alldredge said while he still believes the acquisition process was conducted illegally, the county’s move to sell the property is the right one.