County fears more changes will increase costs, delay project
Santa Clara County and the City of Morgan Hill are continuing to forge ahead on the new courthouse, but county concerns may force the city to change the designs again.
According to Garret Toy, the director for the Business and Housing Services, the Environmental Impact Report was accepted on June 25 and the escrow closed in July 10. A work shop will be held Wednesday evening to discuss the design of the court house.
While the county says that the site will be an elegant place, they fear that they current plans will force the project over schedule and over budget.
“(I)t is not possible to accommodate (the city’s) request to begin a joint site master planning exercise after the (Redevelopment Agency’s) acquisition of the adjacent property without significantly delaying the courthouse project cost beyond the project budget,” Kevin Carruth, director for the General Services Agency, said in a June 20 letter.
Despite budgetary concerns from the county, Mayor Dennis Kennedy says that the relationship between the city and the county is good. He concedes a few problems existed, but things are running smoother than before.
“Overall the cooperation with us is well,” said Kennedy. “After some initial bumps in the road, we’re working well together.”
In February, the city lashed out at the county for not being included in the design process. Alicia Flynn, project manager for the courthouse project took the brunt of the unhappiness and tried to explain that the schematic drawings and the draft Environmental Impact Report had only been received in late January.
The county then responded in March by sending a letter to the city expressing their dismay at the city’s reaction. The two sides met and tried to settle their differences.
“We decided it would be best to lower the rhetoric and try to work this out more on an individual basis,” Kennedy said in March. “We’ve been solving problems in the press rather than one-on-one.”
In March and April, the city held workshops to allow residents an opportunity to comment. The result was a new plan to give it more of a “Morgan Hill look.”
Kennedy said the effort put into the workshops by the county was wonderful, but he still would like a few more things done with the design.
“I appreciate job done on the workshops by (Carruth), his staff and the consultants,” said Kennedy. “There still are a few things I would like to see changed in the design. I know they have budget issue to deal with and I will continue to work with them try to get some minor changes in the design.”
The 80,000-square-foot, $40 million, two-building justice center is planned for Butterfield Boulevard and West Diana Avenue on a site next to the railroad tracks and south of the CalTrain park-and-ride lot.
Six courtrooms, a holding facility for prisoners, jury rooms and related offices would occupy a 35-foot high building. A smaller one-story building on the north would house district attorney, probation and public defender offices.
The site will be linked by a pedestrian walkway that will flow traffic from Butterfield Boulevard. Despite budget restraints, the plans will still include two pedestrian connections through the parking lot as well as a path to the west of the site.
The city has been working to acquire the land to the north of the site to house a fire station. They have also been working with the Valley Transit Authority to purchase land for a parking lot.
The City of Morgan Hill agreed to contribute $7 million of its RDA funds to the courthouse project in return for the county not challenging, legally, the extension of the city’s RDA. The county is abandoning the San Martin courthouse because it has outgrown the site and the existing building is so riddled with mold inside and out that it had to be closed. Court is currently held in trailers on the site. It is expected to open December, 2005.
“Overall, the County maintains that the current design will result in an elegant justice center which will serve to enhance the City’s downtown core,” wrote Carruth.
A meeting about the courthouse will be held Wednesday at 5 p.m. at City Hall Chambers, 17555 Peak Ave.
