Space needs study gives JPs options
Posted on Friday, February 8, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/News/62027/
Another step in the discussion over how to address the lack of space at the Washington County Courthouse is scheduled for today.
A public listening session is set to begin at 1: 30 p. m. in the Washington County Quorum Court Room in the courthouse, 280 N. College Ave.
That is when South Carolina-based Carter Goble Lee, the firm selected to complete the study, will present a draft final report of its recommendations. The firm was selected by the Quorum Court in June to conduct the six-month analysis of space and staff needs, at a cost to the county of $ 95, 000. “ Their challenge always has been to look at all of the options, ” County Judge Jerry Hunton said, adding that the firm will finalize its summary of options.
Among the options the firm has identified are to expand the existing courthouse space or build a courts building in south Fayetteville near the Washington County Detention Center. Hunton said the firm is expected to refine some of the numbers that go with the recommendations.
“ I think they’re going to give people a lot clearer picture, ” he said. “ That’s what I want. If you want to stay in the same footprint, that’s wonderful if you’re willing to spend the kind of money it takes.
“ My goal in this whole thing has been I want this information in front of all the people of Washington County. I don’t want a handful of people making decisions for Washington County. ”
Very few people made the decision to build the jail in 1988, he said, and a new one had to be built 16 years later.
“ I want to try to prevent that from ever happening again, ” he said.
District 9 Justice of the Peace Butch Pond of the Goshen area said the listening session will provide a chance for JPs to become more educated on what can be done.
On Dec. 17, the firm presented the county with three options for meeting the projected space needs for 2030:
• Add to the existing courthouse. This would include renovating the space to bring it up to 2030 needs and building a new parking garage. The option would cost an estimated $ 30 million to $ 35 million.
• Renovate the existing courthouse only for the courts. Another property would be acquired or built for governmental operations. That would cost about $ 11 million to $ 14 million. It would involve renovating a couple of the floors in the existing courthouse to increase the number of courtrooms from four to six or seven. The courthouse would still be about 15, 000 square feet short of the projected space needs of 2030 if this option is chosen.
• Build a new courthouse on a separate site, such as the south campus by the county jail and juvenile detention center. The initial cost of that option, based on the construction cost estimates of 2009, would be about $ 25 million to $ 27 million.
Hunton will support any recommendation as long as that is what the people of the county want, he said, “ as long as I feel like those people in Prairie Grove and Elkins and Tontitown and Springdale and everywhere else at least have the opportunity to see what the options are or to comment. ”
He said this is to ensure that the Quorum Court makes a decision that “ all the people of Washington County can feel good about. ”
“ I don’t feel comfortable with it being my decision or the lawyers’. I feel it needs to be the people’s decision, ” he said. “ We can send our questionnaires, have a straw vote, if that’s what it takes. ”
Pond said he has appreciated the opinions of attorneys and court judges about court space needs.
“ I have enjoyed their attitude of wanting to be more conservative as far as court space and utilizing the buildings we have, ” he said. “ They’re more than willing to already do that rather than take money we have on hand. ”
Pond said he tends not to favor building a courts building on the south campus because there are some other things that have to go with that.
“ If we had the money just to move everything down there, it might be a little more feasible, ” he said.
He said the circuit and county clerk’s offices should both have satellite offices on the south campus if the courts moved there.
“ When we find out from the court judges that they really don’t need bigger courtrooms and also the fact that we’re looking for ways to conserve energy, why build bigger courtrooms in another building that we don’t need and then have another place to heat and cool ?” Pond said.
He said that public defender offices need to be placed next door to the jail, where their clients are located.
He said the prosecutor’s office could be located in the Terminella building on College Avenue, which would free up 25 to 30 parking spaces at the courthouse.
Hunton said there are only 21 parking spaces at the Terminella building.
Pond said there might be a need to reserve some spaces for those who visit the prosecutor’s office if it was moved to that building, and parking for employees would be first-come, firstserved. Church parking is also available in the area on weekdays, he said.
The building has to be bought first, and Hunton said the price is between $ 5 million and $ 6 million. However, Pond said, since the time of that quote, the real estate market has changed.
Asked what will happen if the Arkansas Legislature adds another judge to the circuit, Pond said that moving the prosecutor’s office would free up space at the courthouse, and there is always the Historic Washington County Courthouse, where 4 th Circuit Judge Mary Ann Gunn holds court. Pond said there is her courtroom and a smaller one in that building.
Hunton said there is also a problem of what to do with Gunn while renovations are under way in the old courthouse. If she is temporarily moved to the Terminella building, he said, there is the parking problem.
He also has issues with people having to cross College Avenue on a regular basis. He said it is risky and could put people’s lives in danger.