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CHARLOTTE -- Mecklenburg County commissioners gave approval Tuesday night for officials to move forward on a jail expansion project in north Charlotte.

The body agreed to move forward on the jail’s design work, which takes more than a year to finish.

The 1,700-bed facility is expected to cost between $220 million to $240 million to build. It will go up adjacent to the current jail on Spector Drive.

The jail expansion could be ready to house inmates by mid-2014 and be fully completed by 2020.

Meanwhile, commissioners also voted to allow public swimming at certain areas on Lake Norman. Members approved a change in the county parks ordinance that would allow swimming from designated areas for the first time in nearly 30 years.

Park and recreation leaders recommended opening Ramsey Creek Park in Cornelius as the first swimming area. Redeveloping the creek for swimming is expected to cost nearly $430,000, including an annual operating cost of nearly $90,000.

The issue will need to be voted on again, because not all of the commissioners were at the meeting. County officials say the earliest anyone could swim at the location would be 2011.

Also Tuesday, commissioners voted to endorse comprehensive federal health reform legislation.

The measure, put on the agenda by county chair, Jennifer Roberts, gave support for health care changes to the area’s elected representatives in Washington.

The National Association of Counties prepared the resolution.