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Inyo courthouse project receives funding approval |
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Thursday, 19 November 2009 |
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By Mike Gervais
Register Staff
11-19-2009 Plans for a new courthouse in Independence has received formal approval to begin now that the State Public Works Board has given funding authorization.
This approval from the state, made Tuesday, marks the official start of the courthouse construction project, which will be managed by the state Administrative Office of the Courts.
“We’re a little ahead of schedule, and I am very, very pleased,” said Superior Court Judge Dean Stout.
The proposed project would consolidate and replace the Inyo County Courthouse and the Department Two facility, which is currently a leased former church. Both facilities “are overcrowded, physically deficient and lack security features to current standards,” said Philip R. Carrizosa of the Judicial Office of the Courts.
The proposed project would provide a modern, secure and functionally appropriate courthouse with two courtrooms in a 28,744 square-foot building.
The proposed project would provide a modern, secure and functionally appropriate courthouse with two courtrooms in a 28,744 square-foot building.
“You always cross your fingers with these things, but if everything goes as scheduled, in November 2014 we’ll be up and running,” Stout said.
Once complete, the project will enable the court to provide improved services it cannot currently offer due to space restrictions: jury assembly space and deliberation rooms, a self-help center, a children’s waiting room, family court mediation, attorney interview/witness waiting rooms, security (entrance) screening of all court users and secure circulation for court staff and visitors, as well as in-custody holding.
The proposed project, with an estimated total cost of $32.3 million, is funded by Senate Bill 1407. It was ranked as a “critical need” by the Judicial Council, making it among the highest priority capital-outlay projects for the judicial branch of California.
According to Chief Justice Ronald M. George, “strengthening the physical foundation of our judicial system is more than a metaphor. Courthouses are as vital a part of California’s infrastructure as bridges, highways and water systems. It is time to adequately fund this fundamental component of the infrastructure of our democracy. Public safety and the interests of 38 million Californians require it.”
Stout said the court construction project will also provide some economic stimulus to the county through contracts.
But that is still a ways off, as the state and county work to secure a site for the jail and get a floor plan ready.
“There are a lot of state requirements that must be met,” Stout said. “Right now we’re working to identify an alternative site,” which is a precautionary mandate handed down from the state just in case something goes wrong with the primary site.
County officials have expressed willingness to work with the Court and the AOC to make the site adjacent to the Inyo County Jail and across the street from the Inyo County Juvenile Detention Center, available as the primary location for the project.
This site is being evaluated by the state along with other alternative sites.
The Independence project is scheduled for completion by spring 2014.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 21 December 2009 )
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