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Councilman Fred Howe III thinks Fredericksburg could save money by building |
Less than a month after being sworn in as Fredericksburg's Ward 3 City Councilman, Fred Howe III is asking his colleagues to look at an alternative court-building plan he believes could save time and money.
While the council as a group has agreed to hear Howe out on his proposal, it's unclear what the appetite for a possible change in direction will be, more than three years after council members got their first public look at options for modernizing city courts.
The most recent plan the council has committed to involves replacing the downtown fire station with a new one on land the city would have to buy, then tearing down the old fire station and constructing a new courts building on its Princess Anne Street site.
That building would connect to a renovated General District Court building, which would house more courts space.
Howe has been working with local architect Raymond Herlong on an alternative plan since before he began his term July 1.
He believes the current $40 million plan is too expensive, and he wants the council to look more closely at his and Herlong's concept.
Their concept would keep the city's fire station at its location at Princess Anne and Wolfe streets, eliminating the need to buy land and build a new station.
Howe claims by eliminating this step, a new court complex could be finished two years sooner than the current proposal suggests.
Under Howe's concept, a new courts building would be erected in the empty space between the city parking deck on Sophia Street and the Executive Plaza office building on Caroline Street. It would be a five-story building but would match the Plaza's 97-foot height, allowing for higher ceilings for courtrooms.
Howe proposes gutting and upgrading the Executive Plaza's interior and refurbishing the facade to help it shed its "Big Ugly" moniker. Courtrooms for the Circuit and Juvenile & Domestic Relations courts would be located on the upper floors of the new building.
A secure entrance to the courthouse for judges, and a separate entrance for prisoners, could be built on the ground level of the current parking deck, taking up 18 existing spaces.
Offices for Circuit and Juvenile & Domestic Relations court clerks and staff would be located in the revamped Executive Plaza.
The fire administration staff, currently based in the top floor of Executive Plaza, would shift to an addition to the current fire station.
Howe's concept would pay to renovate the historic Circuit Court building on Princess Anne Street, designed by renowned architect James Renwick, for possible use as a General District courthouse.
Howe and Herlong have used the per-square-foot estimates for renovated and new court space that the city's current court-building consultant, Glave & Holmes Associates, used in its estimates.
Based on those numbers, they claim their plan could cost about $5 million less than the estimated $39.7 million price of the Glave & Holmes plan, while providing for the renovation of the historic Renwick courthouse and knocking out needed renovations to the Executive Plaza at the same time.
Some council members have said they want to hear Howe's plan in a work session before they weigh in on it.
Council members Bea Paolucci and George Solley said yesterday that they wanted to wait to see more information before embracing or dismissing the idea.
Mayor Tom Tomzak voiced several concerns and said he was skeptical about the reality of Howe's proposed savings.
Chief among his concerns is the community's appetite for enlarging and making permanent the much-maligned Executive Plaza.
The city has received proposals in the past to tear it down and build more efficient office space, although no money for those plans is available now.
"The massing and scaling is unacceptable," Tomzak said of Howe's proposed addition. "The long-term goal is to eventually either trim down or remove the Executive Plaza. This would double it in size, and it would remain in perpetuity."
Tomzak was also concerned about Howe's proposed use of the parking garage for courts needs, and with the added operational costs of having court sites at both the Executive Plaza and the Renwick courthouse.
Councilman Brad Ellis, on the other hand, echoed Howe's concern that the city has more cost-analysis work to do before it commits to one of the largest capital projects in Fredericksburg's history, one that will undoubtedly require a tax increase to finance.
He said he was skeptical at first about Howe's proposed use of the Executive Plaza. But he now likes the plan's potential to cover that building's renovation, along with upgrades to the historic Renwick courthouse, at the same time the courts needs are addressed.
As all parties acknowledge, though, more study is needed to determine whether Howe and Herlong's plan really would be cheaper, or even feasible.
At the work session, Howe wants to ask the council members to hire Herlong's firm to perform two more months of study on this plan, for a cost of less than $100,000. After two months, he would like the council to be able to consider the Herlong and Glave & Holmes plans side by side.
Whether that could be accomplished in two months is questionable. State laws require studies like this costing $30,000 or more to be bid through a formal procurement process. That would require a request for proposals, an advertising period and an interview and selection process.
Fredericksburg took nearly four months to hire Glave & Holmes back in 2009, a firm with which the city ended up spending about $95,000 on work that identified five different options for building courts, including the one the council is working on now.
Emily Battle: 540/374-5413
Email: ebattle@freelancestar.com
As Fredericksburg City Council members consider whether to explore a new plan for building courts, they are taking steps toward acquiring land for a new fire station.
On Wednesday night, the city Planning Commission recommended approval of an amendment to the city's comprehensive plan that supports the relocation of the downtown fire station and using the site of the existing station for the courthouse.
Council members will consider that change to the comprehensive plan at their Aug. 24 meeting.
City Manager Beverly Cameron said yesterday that the city has identified a roughly 1.3-acre parking lot owned by PNC Bank, bordered by Progress, Charles and Germania streets, as its preferred site for a new fire station.
Cameron would not comment on why, but city officials are considering the use of eminent domain to acquire this property, which has an assessed value of roughly $1.8 million.
That would require a public hearing on a resolution authorizing condemnation of the property. Though it's not certain, that hearing could be on the council's agenda in September.
The possibility of using eminent domain could sour at least two council members on the current courts proposal.
Howe has said he does not support its use in this case, and Councilman Brad Ellis voiced a similar concern yesterday.
"I am telling you now I am not supporting that," he said. "There's a time and place for eminent domain, and this is not one of them."
--Emily Battle
