LAKEPORT, Calif. – The plans to bring a new courthouse to Lakeport are continuing to move forward at the same time as some courthouse projects in other parts of the state are facing delays.
Last Friday, following two and a half days and 26 hours of public meetings, the state’s Court Facilities Working Group reached recommendations on which courthouse projects would move forward and which would be delayed – some indefinitely.
Seven courthouse construction projects – two in Kern County, two in Los Angeles, one in Monterey one in Placer and one in Plumas – were recommended for indefinite delay, with 23 projects to proceed and move forward subject to funding availability or other considerations.
The new Lakeport courthouse was one of those getting the green light to proceed.
“It’s very, very good news,” said Court Executive Officer Mary Smith. “We’re excited about it.”
Smith said staff from the Lake County Superior Court attended the hearings last week in San Francisco.
Justice Brad Hill, the chair of the Court Facilities Working Group, said in a written statement issued by the Judicial Council that, due to the $544 million cut the state judicial branch faced this last year, the working group “was left with the deeply difficult and disappointing task of delaying necessary court construction projects that would have gone ahead under a better fiscal environment.”
Hill and the working group invited each of the 24 courts with one or more of the 31 projects to submit a proposal, demonstrating why each project should move forward with the branch’s limited funds, the Judicial Council reported.
In Mendocino County, a new courthouse project in Ukiah also will move ahead with site acquisition, with the project to have one less courtroom, the state reported.
The Court Facilities Working Group’s recommendations will go to the Judicial Council of California for consideration at its Oct. 26 meeting.
The Lakeport courthouse – a 50,000-square-foot, $55 million project to be built at 675 Lakeport Blvd. – made a short list of critical projects statewide.
It gained its place on the priority list due to safety concerns and space constraints state officials identified for the courts’ current location on the fourth floor of the Lake County Courthouse, located at 255 N. Forbes St.
Those quarters have become even more cramped since the Lake County Superior Court reconfigured its calendars and relocated Judge Stephen Hedstrom’s Department 4 courtroom from Clearlake to Lakeport in August in response to an anticipated cut of more than half a million dollars for the new fiscal year, as Lake County News has reported.
Smith said all of the projects that are moving forward – including Lakeport’s – will through an evaluation committee that will look for ways to save money when possible.
“There is going to be some scrutiny on the project, but it’s going to move forward,” she said.
Lakeport’s courthouse project plans have been approved; now it’s waiting for funding to move to the next phase, which Smith said is working drawings.
The Administrative Office of the Courts previously had planned for the Lakeport courthouse project’s groundbreaking and bond issuance to take place in the spring of 2013, with construction to be completed in late 2014.
However, that schedule has been disrupted due to the recent changes in the state judicial branch’s fiscal situation. Smith said state officials haven’t recently updated the project’s timeframe.
While the situation is uncertain due to the state’s funding availability, “I’m very optimistic that it will get back on track,” said Smith.
The list of projects approved at last week’s meeting will be posted on the Court Facilities Working Group Web site, www.courts.ca.gov/policyadmin-invitationstocomment.htm , for two weeks for public comment, and later this month the working group will meet to confirm final recommendations.
Once the Judicial Council reviews and either accepts or adjusts the Court Facilities Working Group recommendations, projects slated to move forward will be reviewed by a cost-reduction subcommittee chaired by Justice Jeffrey W. Johnson.
“Given the current economic environment, we remain ever vigilant stewards of the taxpayer’s money,” Johnson said in a written statement. “I predict that those projects recommended for construction will face considerable reductions in size, scope and cost.”
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