Friday, Mar. 21, 2008
Little direction given for new courthouse plans
Jack Weinstein
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ReprintIn a contentious discussion that lasted more than three hours Thursday, Johnson County commissioners provided little direction to Joe Waters, who had hoped for guidance with plans on a new county courthouse.
But they did provide Waters, the county’s facilities director, with the courthouse’s location, which will be west of Olathe City Hall on Santa Fe Street between Water and Chestnut streets.
Waters and Stephen Carter of Columbia, S.C.-based Carter Goble Lee, an architecture planning firm that specializes in criminal justice buildings, presented an updated study that identified four options to replace the county’s outdated, overcrowded courthouse in downtown Olathe.
Waters said the new courthouse would look and feel more like a traditional courthouse.
“Today’s building, with the additions over the years, looks like a hodgepodge.”
The new 430,000-square-foot courthouse would have 36 courtrooms and enough administrative space to accommodate more than 550 district attorney’s office employees, sheriff’s deputies and court support staff. Preliminary proposals called for a first phase to be completed by 2014 and full build-out by 2030. The existing courthouse would be remodeled to become county offices. Additonal space will have to be leased by the county.
The catch: The new courthouse could cost between $305 million and $441 million. When the plans for constructing the new courthouse were presented to commissioners in September, the price tag was $192 million. The cost has increased in anticipation of inflation and rising construction costs, Carter said.
Commissioners didn’t disagree that the county needs a new courthouse. Originally built in 1952 and renovated at least six times, it will have to be remodeled again to accommodate existing space needs until the new building is finished in 2014.
The $305 million option included constructing the entire building now and leaving eight courtrooms and some administrative space unfinished until the county needs it in 2030. The county needs only 28 courtrooms by 2014, based on estimates derived from the county’s expected population. By 2030, when the population is projected to exceed 730,000, the county expects to have 36 judges. Currently, there are 23 judges.
The other three options with costs up to $441 million entail two phases of construction. Twelve to 28 courtrooms would be constructed by 2014, and the remaining courtrooms would be completed by 2030. In the meantime, some courtrooms in the existing courthouse would be used.
The first phase of the project would start with design in 2011 and construction in 2013. Construction of the second phase could take place in 2023. District Court Judge Stephen Tatum, who spoke on behalf of the county’s judges, said the judges preferred to have all the courtrooms in one building.
Commissioner Ed Peterson favored the least-expensive option.
“When you start looking at the long-term cost, the more we do today, the less long-term cost there will be,” he said.
But Peterson was reminded by Commissioner Doug Wood that the county doesn’t have $305 million now to construct the courthouse. Commissioner Ed Eilert agreed.
“Unless we act like the Federal Reserve, the money’s not there,” he said.
Commission Chair Annabeth Surbaugh suggested a partnership with Olathe on the city-owned land to cut some costs.
“It’s good business for the revitalization of downtown,” she said.
Land acquisition for the courthouse is scheduled in the county’s capital improvements program budget for 2010.
When reached after the meeting, city spokesman Tim Danneberg said the City Council has expressed its openness to partner with the county on that site “in one fashion or another.”
“Keeping the courthouse downtown is important to us,” he said. “Over the years, we’ve acquired property as it’s come on the market.”
On-site parking and a parking garage for the courthouse would be on current Olathe property north of City Hall.
Wood said he would support an Olathe partnership only if Olathe residents didn’t have to foot the bill.
“A partnership with Olathe, if it includes taxpayers paying more than their fair share — more than other (county) citizens — you can forget about me supporting any of it,” he said.
In the meantime, Waters submitted a $5 million temporary plan to renovate the existing courthouse that should bridge the gap until construction on the new courthouse can be completed, he said.
To date, a funding mechanism has not been identified to cover the costs of the new courthouse. Waters said that because the new courthouse is included in the 2008-12 CIP, he will go back before commissioners to discuss its plans during the budget process this summer.