Benton County to seek expert advice on court building

File photo NWA Democrat-Gazette/BEN GOFF @NWABENGOFF A view of the Benton County Courthouse.
File photo NWA Democrat-Gazette/BEN GOFF @NWABENGOFF A view of the Benton County Courthouse.

BENTONVILLE -- With new questions raised about plans for a courts building, Benton County's justices of the peace agreed Monday to hire an outside expert to study the proposal.

The county's Finance Committee voted unanimously to have County Judge Bob Clinard prepare a request for qualifications for an architectural firm with knowledge of current courthouse design and construction. The measure was sent on to the the county's Committee of the Whole for further discussion and Clinard said he will prepare the RFQ for the justices of the peace to review before the county begins the process of seeking a consultant.

What’s next

Benton County’s Finance Committee on Monday voted unanimously to seek an expert to advise the county of plans for a new courts building. The question was sent to the county’s Committee of the Whole for further discussion at that panel’s next meeting, which is set for 6 p.m. Oct. 13 in the Quorum Courtroom at the County Administration Building, 215 E. Central Ave. in Bentonville.

Source: Staff report

The Finance Committee tabled a planned discussion of funding options for the new building indefinitely. Tom Allen, justice of the peace for District 4 and committee chairman, said the new questions, mainly about security and parking, have to be answered before the project can proceed.

"We need to hire an expert architectural firm to work with a local firm to be sure we specifically address the concerns of the circuit judges," Allen said. "Once we get the firm hired they'll start to work on those questions."

Monday's meeting was the first opportunity for the justices of the peace to discuss the project in light of a letter signed by the county's six circuit judges opposing both downtown plans that have been proposed and the downtown building site as inadequate to meet the county's needs. The letter, signed by circuit judges Robin Green, Brad Karren, Thomas E. Smith, John R. Scott, Xollie Duncan and Doug Schrantz, cited concerns over security, access for both the public and judicial system employees, parking and future expansion.

"After due consideration, our conclusion is that the two proposals for downtown are inadequate," the judges said in the letter. "Simply put, the land mass proposed is not large enough for a building of the size necessary to accommodate the security concerns, the functionality needed, nor the expected expansion necessary to meet the needs of the justice system in Benton County in the foreseeable future. Therefore, we cannot support the existing proposals for a courthouse located downtown nor the expenditure of taxpayer dollars for either of the two plans."

Allen said said he isn't sure how long the process will be delayed. The Quorum Court had set a goal of putting the project up for a vote at the November 2016 general election.

"I think this sets us back from a few months to who knows how long," Allen said.

The county has worked on plans for a new courts building for the past few years. A study in January 2014 identified three sites -- two downtown and one on county property on Southwest 14th Street near the jail and Road Department. The Quorum Court wants to keep courts and related offices downtown, with the county's Public Safety Committee endorsing a downtown building project and the Finance Committee exploring financing options for a downtown building.

The justices of the peace said Monday they want to keep the focus of the work on the downtown options. Clinard said he would prefer not to limit the consultants, saying his preferred location doesn't face the same constraints on security or parking as the downtown location. Clinard said during Monday's meeting architects and engineers he's spoken to gave him a range of costs for "hardening" the building to meet security needs and for building a parking deck that boost the cost of a downtown building by as much as $7 million.

"If it's only downtown you're not going to get the whole picture," he said.

Allen said he didn't want to ask the expert about the costs of hardening the building, only for his recommendations on the security needed.

"We're getting ahead of ourselves on this discussion of hardening," Allen said. "We need to rely on this architect to tell us if we need to do this."

Pat Adams, justice of the peace for District 6, suggested another possible solution. Adams said the county could construct a new administration building on the property on Second Street then tear down the existing county administration building and other county buildings on the property between Second Street and Central Avenue and put the new courts building on that location. He asked for comparisons of the buildable space available in the two sites as a first step in evaluating that possibility.

"It would give us probably double the square footage for a new courts building right here," Adams said. "It's just an idea. There is another plan here is the Quorum Court wants to keep it downtown."

Clinard has said throughout the discussion of the building project that he prefers a new building on county-owned land near the jail and Road Department on SW 14th Street, which is also Arkansas 102. That proposed four-story building would have about 100,000 square feet of space with six new courtrooms and offices space for the judges and their staffs, the prosecuting attorney and public defender, circuit clerk and all other related offices. The building would have 480 dedicated parking spaces initially with room for expansion on the site. The building would also be set back from public streets as part of the security plan for a courts building. Clinard has estimated the net cost to the county at $26.7 million. That cost includes $2.6 million in anticipated revenue from the sale of the court annex building and assessor's annex in downtown Bentonville and the county's development building at 905 N.W. Eighth St.

The justices of the peace have been discussing two plans proposed for a courts building on Second Street in Downtown Bentonville. Clinard developed a plan for a four-story building with 125,000 square feet of space and six courtrooms and an estimated cost of $28.7 million, including the sale of the three county buildings and possibly another $4.9 million in grant money from the Walton Family Foundation. Of that grant money, $2.9 million is for renovation work on the historic county courthouse and the other $2 million is being offered only if the courts building is built downtown. Clinard said an unfinished fifth floor, for future expansion, would cost an additional $3,375,000.

The second downtown option, labeled the G-2 plan, has been put forward by downtown business interests and the Walton Family Foundation. The group has lobbied to keep the courts and other offices downtown citing the economic impact of the employees and those who make use of the courts on the downtown area. The G-2 plan would provide about 70,000 square feet of new space. The plan makes use of the historic county courthouse, built in 1928, for some office space and court needs. The plan also includes the court annex building, built in 1935 and now used for Circuit Judge Brad Karren's courtroom and offices, to house the Circuit Clerk after Karren's court is moved. Clinard said he will not consider a plan that includes attaching the old annex building to a new courts building, citing construction issues, problems with access to the building. Clinard said the net cost of the G-2 plan is about $30,650,000, including the revenue from the $4.9 million in grants and $600,000 from the sale of the assessor's annex. The G-2 plan also calls for spending about $8.9 million of the total cost to renovate the historic courthouse. An unfinished fifth floor could add another $2.1 million to the cost and Clinard said he would expect the county to spend another $1 million to rehabilitate the annex building if it were used in the project.

NW News on 09/29/2015

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