by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Although there are a number of loose ends still to be resolved, Mayor John Delaney will break ground on the $211 million Duval County Courthouse — the fourth of the major vertical projects in the Better Jacksonville Plan — during a ceremony scheduled for 1:30 p.m. at the corner of Monroe and Clay streets.
“The mayor will be doing real construction work,” said Chief of Staff Audrey Moran. “He’ll be doing something not yet seen on any of the other projects.”
Friday, Delaney will cut the ribbon on the new $24 million Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville when the Jacksonville Suns play their 2003 home opener. Last December, Delaney broke ground on the $95 million main library and in November 2001, ground was broken on the $130 million arena. The library will be dedicated in late 2004 while the arena will be done and open for business later this year.
The new courthouse is by far the largest and most expensive of the four major projects in the $2.2 billion plan. It also may the be most controversial. Few would argue the need for a new county courthouse. However, because there are so many entities with a stake in the courthouse from concept to design to amenities, it has drawn the most scrutiny and may be the only project to come in later than promised and over budget.
Consider: the new courthouse will occupy six city blocks with two reserved for future use. Millions of dollars worth of land will have to be purchased and several buildings are slated for demolition (the old Southern Bell building is already gone). BellSouth is under the gun from the City to move underground wires and a great deal of other infrastructure has to be relocated. Both the State Attorney and Public Defender’s offices will be in the new facility, as will the offices of 26 circuit court judges, 15 county court judges, their staff and several other court-related offices and services.
In all, the new courthouse will house hundreds of employees and service thousands of citizens on a daily basis. And it seems virtually everyone wants input regarding the design, amenities and security measures at the courthouse. Hence, the logistical problems the project could potentially create.
Moran said the project’s architect, Canon Design, is taking everyone’s input into consideration. When Canon was selected at last summer’s design competition, Moran explained the submitted design and final product will be different.
“The design is about 30 percent complete,” said Moran. “It’s very similar to what you saw at the design competition, but not the same. It never is. The design of the library has changed. We don’t have the final drawings for that yet.”
An idea that has been scrapped is one Delaney toyed with a couple of years ago. In order to lure people downtown, Delaney originally planned to incorporate traffic court into the new courthouse, moving the offices from Beach Boulevard to downtown. Annually, traffic court handles about 150,000 customers.
“The decision was made that the courthouse was not the best place for traffic court,” said Moran. “Our consultants looked at it early on and decided traffic needed a separate place because of the in-and-out, in-and-out nature of traffic court. It was more of an issue of logistics. There were some cost considerations, but it was not a driving force. The mayor wanted people downtown, but the courthouse people were saying no.”
Circuit Court Judge A.C. Soud is one four judges that comprise the judicial advisory committee for the courthouse. Soud said he’s pleased with the progress to date, but admitted it hasn’t been easy.
“We’re in what’s called the schematic phase. We are at the point where we are close to finalizing the layout of the offices and the jury assembly rooms,” said Soud, adding one issue has presented problems. “Continuing the process of the delivery system of inmates has been one of the thornier problems. You are talking about moving 200-250 people at a time when you are trying to keep them out of sight and sound of each other. It’s very staff intensive. We discussed it today [Thursday] and it’s close to being resolved.”
Soud said he and the committee are pleased with progress to this point, but stressed the judiciary has no ulterior motives regarding the courthouse’s budget.
“We are not in the financial end of it,” he said. “That doesn’t mean we are interested in writing blank checks. We are just trying to lay it so it meets the necessary functions of the primary user, the public. We’re doing fine. The footprint of the building is about established. Right now we are talking about the sizes of offices and who needs how much space.
“I tell people we are past looking at the forest and are beginning to look at the trees. In the next two to three weeks, we’ll look at the branches.”
Soud is joined on the judicial committee by Circuit Court judges Lance Day and Charles Arnold and County Court Judge Mallory Cooper.