Parking plays large role in future site of county government
Posted on Thursday, April 24, 2008
County Judge Jerry Hunton recalled a recent incident when a trial and election training simultaneously occurred at the Washington County Courthouse.
He said a lady driving through the parking lot rolled down her car window and asked the court security officer where she was supposed to park. She perhaps verbalized the thoughts of many as they cruise the lot searching for a parking place, especially on days when people are trying to conduct county business and trials are occurring.
And it has not gone unnoticed by justices of the peace wrestling with courthouse space issues. Parking keeps coming up in their discussions.
Last week, they approved studying the possibility of constructing a parking garage across the street from the courthouse — which would require working with St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Fayetteville, which owns the property.
At least $ 40, 000 has been set aside to pay for a study looking into building the parking garage, as well as analyzing the present parking deck at the courthouse.
Public Works Committee Chairman Joe Patterson said learning whether the park- ing garage idea is a go is key in courthouse discussions.
Not only would it provide parking if something is done to the existing parking deck at the courthouse, he said, it would bring parking closer to the Terminella Building, a structure some think could be used for the public defender’s and prosecutor’s offices.
JP Tom Lundstrum of Springdale also sees all kinds of possibilities with building the parking garage, along with a skywalk across College Avenue.
“ If we could build that new parking deck across the street, that would open up more alternatives to us than anything I know of, ” he said.
It would enable the current courthouse deck to be torn down and the courthouse to be expanded, he said.
JP Butch Pond of Goshen also likes the parking garage idea.
“ Hopefully the church will think that’s a good project to be in partnership with us on, ” he said.
Hunton brought the issue to the JPs when they toured county facilities and other properties last month. “ We’re trying to make a deal with the church to build a parking garage, ” he said. “ They may turn us down. Not only will we be back to square one, we actually may be below square one, because then what do we do ?”
The church’s role The Rev. Lowell Grisham of St. Paul’s said there has been no talk at the church about the parking deck proposal. “ We haven’t spoken on this, ” he said. “ It’s not been brought up in any formal conversation whatsoever. We’ve been given no plan or no proposal or no invitation to plan. We’ve done nothing. ” He said Hunton sent him a letter last year asking him if he would be interested. “ I sent back a strongly worded ‘ no, ’ so I was surprised to see it raised in the newspaper a couple of weeks ago, ” Grisham said when interviewed Wednesday. Grisham said Hunton called him after that and they talked about it again. “ I renewed my hesitance, my reservations, but asked what he had in mind, and he said that there weren’t any drawings yet and he really didn’t have anything concrete to describe. So I said when you’ve got something, let us look at it, ” Grisham said. “ What I’m clear about is the church is not interested in selling or giving away or having its property taken under eminent domain. We’ve been here 150 years, and we intend to remain here 150 years or more.
“ I’m just one person speaking. We make decisions in a wider context at the church. We have speculated in conversation the possibility of developing the College Avenue property in a way that is consistent with the city’s vision that came out of the city’s master plan, and that might potentially involve a parking deck. ”
Before his death, John Lewis was helping guide the church toward talking about long-term planning, Grisham said, “ and we intend to initiate that conversation. ”
“ We haven’t done that work. We plan to, ” Grisham said. “ That would be important to us before we would make any sort of commitment to using our property for a parking deck. ”
If he was to be given some drawings, they would be taken to the church’s vestry, which is its board of trustees, “ and we could begin to consider it, ” Grisham said. “ My reading of the vestry is that a parking deck would be a hard sell. ”
South campus out ? Building 300 parking spaces in the deck on the church property may negate the idea of building a judicial complex on the south campus near the Washington County Detention Center to alleviate space issues at the courthouse. “ If we go ahead and build 300 parking spaces, then is moving south out because of that ? ” Hunton said. Agreeing to look into the parking garage proposal indicates it is, said JP Micah Neal of Springdale. “ If we’re going to spend millions of dollars building (the deck ), I just assume we’ll probably end up staying downtown, ” he said. Pond, who does not discount redoing the parking deck at the courthouse, says county officials also need to look at any other buildings that become available in close proximity to the courthouse. “ The churches do that. They accumulate properties whenever they can, ” he said. “ We need parking spaces. ”
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