Minutes - 04-17-2000 - Laserfiche WebLink

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said that this has been a cooperative effort among all of the court officials. The rise in the caseload continues to increase to where the need for space can no longer be ignored. In preparation for the addition of court facilities, the Board asked in September of last year, for the staff to prepare an analysis of the Hillsborough court campus and to define how much build out could be experienced on this site. The area of study goes from the courthouse to the Government Services building. She introduced Alone Baldwin with Freeman White Architects who will present the findings of the analysis. He will give two options for the site. She said that the funds for a portion of the design fees for phase 1 are included in the 2000-2010 CIP. The staff is asking that the Board allow staff to solicit far an architect after July 1St if the funds are approved. Alone Baldwin said that the three things that the architects looked at were the construction that is possible an the site, the parking, and increasing the level of security with respect to the entire campus. He summarized some issues that were driving the master plan. One of the issues is the subsurface sail condition of the site. Another issue is the high water table, which fluctuates seasonally from 3.5 to 14 feet. He then explained the first option for the master plan. Option A is a linear development recommending a single point of entry for all access and egress to the building. Each one of the additions is four levels. The lower level would be for secured parking and the upper three levels would be for program space. He said that the historic ordinance would require a sensitivity with respect to the architecture which is a constraint. Chair Carey asked about the controlled entry and Alone Baldwin said that one entry would minimize the number of staff and the control points throughout the structure. Alone Baldwin said that in each of the additions, the footprints are 10,000 square feet. Each structure would be 24,000 square feet, not including the parking on the first level. Commissioner Halkiotis asked if it was noted for the successful completion of Phase 1, that the Sheriff's department would be moving to the new building, and the Sheriffs building would be demolished. Alone Baldwin said yes, after Phase 1, the Sheriff's building would be demolished. Commissioner Gordon clarified that Phase 1 in option A would have secured parking in the bottom level and then there would be three levels of program space. She asked how far the building was from the street and how much taller the building was than the existing courthouse. Alone Baldwin said that the buildings would be approximately nine feet higher than the existing courthouse. He said that the distance from the building to the street is exactly the same as the existing structure on the corner of East Margaret Lane and Churton Street. Commissioner Brown questioned that there was only one access point into the building because it was so long. She would rather have two secure access paints. Alone Baldwin said that another access point could be developed after the second phase, but it would require mare program space and more staff. Qiscussion ensued about who would occupy the new buildings. Commissioner Brown said that she would like for County resources to ga toward other buildings besides the jail and court system. Also, she would like to see how this fits in with the County space study. John Link said that he believes that the space needs of other County functions would converge with the court campus space study. Commissioner Halkiotis said that the County has never spent more than three or four million dollars in building a facility strictly for County government other than schools. He mentioned that there would be a causeway that would run the length to the single port of entry. He said that it might be time to look at doing a traffic study and make East Margaret Lane and East King Street one way streets because the traffic is horrendous. Commissioner Jacobs asked about a portion of the park that is being used for parking. Alone Baldwin said that the reason for taking this additional space of the park was to allow for circulation and access to Churton Street. He said that this space did not necessarily have to be included. Commissioner Jacobs asked about the archeological analysis. Pam Jones said that the staff was tasked with defining the constraints of the site. She said that the archeological issues would be in the next phase. The first analysis was to determine if the soils would support the buildings.