Three potential sites in Delta, Surrey and Vancouver are being advanced as the possible home for a new Lower Mainland pre-trial jail.

Metro Vancouver mayors are bringing back three possible locations to the provincial government, which tossed the hot-potato issue over to them for recommendations just before the provincial election.

Victoria had originally wanted to build the new 360-bed Lower Mainland Pretrial Centre in Burnaby at the site of the former Willingdon youth detention centre but backed away after fierce protests from Burnaby residents.

Delta is proposing a former demolition landfill site along River Road, between Alexander Road and the Alex Fraser Bridge.

Surrey is willing to consider a major expansion of the existing 150-bed Surrey pre-trial centre near city hall and the law courts.

And Vancouver has advanced a site near Southeast Marine Drive.

Other local cities considered but rejected the idea of hosting the pre-trial jail.

The final decision will be up to the province.

“We’ve done our job,” Metro Vancouver board chair and Delta Mayor Lois Jackson said. “They’ll have to do their analysis.”

She noted local cities came up with the possible sites quickly and without controversy.

“This is local government—we can turn on a dime,” she said.

“We are going to be talking to the solicitor general’s department about location, about how much money it would cost and fitting in with their requirements.”

The remand centre would be an economic driver for whichever city gets it.

The jail is expected to bring 200 jobs, $15 million in salaries, $3 million in supply contracts and $400,000 in grants in lieu of property taxes to the host municipality.

A long list of potential sites across the Lower Mainland had been studied by the provincial government, but many were in the Agricultural Land Reserve, were too far from court houses or had other problems.

More remand space is urgently needed.

The inmate population in the Lower Mainland has climbed from 2,185 in 2004 to 2,800 last year and two existing pre-trial centres in Surrey and Port Coquitlam are overcrowded, often running at twice their capacity.

Remand inmates make up half of all prisoners in B.C., up from a third 10 years ago.