Benton County judge offers courts building plan

BENTONVILLE -- Benton County Judge Bob Clinard presented his concept of a new courts building Monday, touting the sites' advantages in the estimated cost to build and to facilitate the consolidation of county offices.

"This plan will consolidate all of the Benton County operations into two campuses," Clinard said. "One in downtown Bentonville and one on 102."

Office relocation

Shifting Benton County’s circuit courts and related offices to a new building on SW 14th Street would be a first step in a plan to consolidate county offices. If that courts building is approved and built, the county plans to sell three other buildings — the assessor’s annex, the county development building and the courthouse annex — and move the offices housed in those building into the county administration and public services buildings. The sale of the three building is projected to net the county $2 million after relocation costs plus save about $115,000 in yearly maintenance and operational costs.

Source: Benton County

Clinard and Rik Sowell, architect on the project, made a presentation on his plans for a new courts building on county-owned land near the County Jail and Road Department on SW 14th Street in Bentonville, which is also Arkansas 102, to the county's Public Safety Committee. As part of the plan for a new courts building on SW 14th Street, Clinard also proposes to relocate a number of county offices and "repurpose" the historic county courthouse on the downtown square. That building would no longer house any judges and courtrooms but would instead be used by the county judge, the Quorum Court, the Historical Preservation Commission and other offices. Other county offices would be shifted in space in the former county jail, the public services building and into the space vacated in the county administration building, allowing the county to sell three buildings now being used for office space.

"I want to see the old courthouse open to the public as much as possible," Clinard said.

The plan Clinard briefed the justices of the peace on calls for a three-story building with 100,000 square-feet of space for six courtrooms, six circuit judges and their staffs, offices for the Prosecuting Attorney and Public Defender, and other needed county offices. The plan allows for possible expansion to provide another 50,000 square-feet of office space. The conceptual plans provide for 475 public parking spaces initially, with another 72 secure parking spaces. the plan shows room to add more parking as needed if the building itself is expanded. The plan has an estimated budget of $24 million.

The justices of the peace heard a proposal to keep the courts and related offices in the downtown area two weeks ago. That plan would see a new building on Second Street, across from the existing county courthouse, and utilize renovated space in the historic county courthouse and the county's annex building.

The plan presented to the justices of the peace for the downtown project calls for a four-story building on Second Street that would have space for five courtrooms and related offices and shell space for two courtrooms to be built in the future. A sky walk would connect the new building with the historic county courthouse. The downtown plan provides the county with a projected 69,624 square-feet of additional space for the courts system and carries an estimated cost of $32.2 million.

The downtown plan addressed concerns over parking space, estimating the project would add 101 spaces within a one-block radius of the courthouse. the plan also proposed to make use of 113 spaces in the parking deck of the 21C Hotel on days when the county is calling a jury pool to court.

The county's six circuit judges have stated their concerns over inadequate space and security issues in the aging courthouse and other problems tied to having the judges and courtrooms in separate facilities. They have also stated their desire for the county to have a single courts building that would provide adequate room for the court system now and allow for future growth.

The justices of the peace asked Clinard to provide more information, with Barry Moehring pressing Clinard for greater detail saying the plan presented for keeping the courts downtown has much more detail. Moehring said the inclusion of plans to shift county offices and sell county buildings raises more questions and the need for more information, particularly on the cost of the relocation and the cost of re-purposing the historic courthouse.

"This is still a long way away from where we are with the other one," Moehring said of the plan presented Monday. "I'm intrigued by the fact this is now a much larger project than a courts building. At some point we're going to have to finance this. If all of this is part of a larger plan we need to hear a lot more."

Clinard said he will bring the justices of the peace more detail, although he disputed the assertions that the downtown plan was any more detailed, saying both present basic layouts of the buildings proposed, not detailed schematic drawings.

"They're all blocked-in plans, just like Rik gave you," Clinard said. "The moving around pays for itself through the sale of the buildings."

Moehring said he wanted more than Clinard's assurance the relocation plan would pay for itself and the repurposing of the old courthouse would be less costly than the renovation proposed in the downtown plan.

"It's not sufficient, for me, to say it's going to be substantially less," Moehring said. "That, for me, has to be quantified. If we're going to compare apples-to-apples the detail of this plan has to at least equal the downtown plan."

After hearing Clinard's presentation for locating the courts building on SW 14th Street the justices of the peace set a meeting for 6 p.m. April 7 to begin their discussion on choosing between the two plans. Joel Jones, justice of the peace for District 7 and committee chairman, said he wants the Public Safety committee to focus on the building designs and how well they meet the county's needs, not on the costs, saying those issues will be taken up by the county's Finance Committee.

"The dollar numbers will be there," Jones said. "I would like to ask the Finance Committee to start looking at options for financing, now that we've got estimates for both plans in the $20 million to $25 million range. We need to make a recommendation based on the best building plan."

Jones said he expects the discussion will continue for several more meetings and he doesn't expect a decision by the Public Safety Committee until some time in May or June.

NW News on 03/17/2015

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