The search for a new home for the Weld County Justice Center continues.
The Weld County commissioners approved the hiring of two firms last week to examine and calculate the full costs of a new judicial center.
The county’s population is estimated to grow 53% by 2044, so the county needs to make room for several new judges over the coming years. The existing judicial center does not have the space to accommodate the number of new judges that are anticipated.
As a result, the county has been meeting with several companies over the past few months to discuss whether it would be more financially sound to construct a new judicial center on O Street or to expand the courthouse in downtown Greeley.
Preliminary cost estimates have given the county a wide range of costs, but none of them seemingly give the full picture, according to the county, and officials want to account for every nickel and dime before making a decision.
“At first glance, for example, it may appear cheaper to build a new justice center on O St., because there wouldn’t be any building demolition costs, but the county would have to pay for perhaps one mile of water and sewer line to get the new building. We are trying to get an apples-to-apples comparison,” Commissioner Scott James said in a county news release. “There are infrastructure costs that need to be calculated into the equation so we, as a board, can make the best decision for the county overall.”
The county has retained RJA Engineering and PCL Construction to research and verify the numbers presented to the board by Gensler, a global architecture, design and planning firm, and Greeley-based Richmark Development. The firms will also compile costs for the civil engineering work that needs to be done in both locations.
“We have presentations and estimates on the cost of the building itself, regardless of where it is built,” Commissioner Chair Perry Buck said in the release. “Now what we need are the costs to actually get the building running at either location — road improvements, water and sewer lines, etc. These firms are going to research that for us.”
If the county chooses to keep the courthouse in downtown Greeley, it would become part of the Civic Campus project proposed by Richmark and Vertikal for the county, the city of Greeley and Greeley-Evans School District 6. The project looks to combine a new city hall, a new District 6 office building and the county’s new justice center in one location in downtown Greeley.
The firms will present their report to commissioners in May.
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