Meetings Steering Committee(Folders 1-2)

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COURTS AND COURT SECURITY A. FINDINGS 1. With respect to the courts and the other downtown county facilities, each of which was represented by a separate subcommittee, the steering committee was faced with conflicting recommendations. Each group recommended that the other make the existing county courthouse its home for the next 20 years, and that group's facilities be lodged in a new building to be constructed on the present site of the Senator Building. 2. The net square footage available in the existing courthouse (exclusive of hallways, bathrooms, elevators, stairways, mechanical areas and other spaces not usable by tenants) is 74,000 square feet. Within the courthouse, 37,000 net square feet are currently allocated to court functions. (The WE group report indicates that all court facilities, including courthouse, courts annex at the jail and the juvenile facility, occupy approximately 46,000 square feet) The WE group projects that the courts will need approximately 76,000 square feet by 2003 and approximately 85,000 square feet by 2013. If the courts move out of the jail, then all of this space except for the juvenile court facilities would need to be provided within the courthouse. 3. The current space needs of the non-court downtown county facilities are approximately 90,000 square feet, and the projected space need for 2013 is 110,000 square feet. It is clear that neither the current nor the future space needs of these departments can be accommodated within the existing courthouse. 4. In a head-to-head comparison between the cost of building a new Justice Center for the courts and converting the courthouse to downtown facility use, or building a new Public Service Building and remodeling the courthouse to accommodate the courts through the planning cycle, it appears that the latter alternative would save approximately $2.4 million in construction and development costs. PAGE 23 ksj/cd/Facilities.Int 08/10/95