by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
In an effort to wipe the slate clean with the City Council, local judges and voters, Mayor John Peyton has decided to scrap nearly every aspect of the county courthouse project and start anew.
Susie Wiles, Peyton’s chief of special initiatives and communications, said Peyton has grown weary of the myriad questions surrounding every facet of the project that was once slated to cost $190 million but has ballooned to more than $300 million, depending on who is crunching the numbers.
“The courthouse questions have dogged him for so long that he has vowed to get the project back on track by the end of the year,” said Wiles. “We are going to completely start over with a design competition that will also be part of a bid process. There is no way we will break ground by the end of the year; that is many months away.”
At one point the City was prepared to move forward with a design produced by Canon Design — a design that included about one million square feet, six city blocks, room for 41 judges, the State Attorney’s office as well as the Public Defender’s office, several other court-related offices and services and a gold dome that was popular with the local judiciary. However, once that design was analyzed it was determined there was no way it could be built for $190 million or even $211 million, with $21 million in contingency money.
As cost estimates escalated for a variety of reasons Peyton began to reassign the project. At one point City Council President Kevin Hyde, Chief Judge Don Moran and City Chief Operating Officer Dan Kleman were to hammer out the details of the project and get it under construction. According to Wiles, Peyton is looking to take back most of the control of the project.
“Obviously we need a building that meets the needs of the judiciary and the mayor is committed to building a first-rate courthouse,” said Wiles, adding that the Canon design may or may not have any role. “We own the design and we do not owe them anything.”
Wiles said if everything goes right, construction could start in a year. However, the cost of the new courthouse is vague at best right now because there are too many fluctuating costs. Also, because of City purchasing policies, Wiles said it isn’t feasible for the City to purchase basic construction materials — drywall, nails, paint, etc. — now and stockpile them for later.
“We simply are not sure what we will need,” said Wiles. “We do not have a design, but we do have a program of study. The public, who passed this as part of the Better Jacksonville Plan, would like to see the project get started and get done. Everyone is frustrated, but no one more so than the mayor.”
In a related note, the latest quarterly report for the Better Jacksonville Plan is out and Wiles said that overall the plan and its projects are progressing well.
“Obviously, like everything else, there are challenges related to financial issues. The horizontal construction projects are no different. We are on track with the road projects,” said Wiles, adding that the City Council should be getting some of those projects soon.
Other items from the report:
• The Jacksonville Suns and the City need to agree on how to spend the remaining $50,351 left in the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville fund. The Suns want to concrete in a storage area under the seats, a project that could use all of those funds.
• The final cost of the Veteran’s Memorial Arena may be about $300,000 under budget. This with one eminent domain case left to settle.
• All of the branch libraries have either been built or renovated and are open.
• Of the 2,000 miles of roads to be resurfaced at a cost of $105 million, approximately 1,650 miles have been completed. Also, of the 250 miles of new sidewalks (at a cost of $20 million), approximately 101 miles have been completed to date.