EVERETT — Plans for the county’s new downtown courthouse are picking up where they left off in December, when Everett city leaders blocked the project over parking worries.
More details emerged Monday of a deal to allow the county to rent 300 parking stalls from the city in a future garage. The compromise was first announced Friday.
The county’s payments would start at $252,000 per year, once the new garage is ready for occupancy. Payments would increase by 1 percent annually over 20 years, totalling about $5.5 million.
“I’m confident at this point that we have a plan and we have a budget and we’re going to move forward,” County Council Chairman Dave Somers said.
There is no timeline for building the garage. City leaders first need to decide where to put it. One potential option would take out a block of historic buildings on Hewitt Avenue, west of Xfinity Arena. The agreement with the county restricts the location to the area between Broadway and Colby Avenue, east to west, and Hewitt and Pacific avenues, north to south.
There was no vote Monday after county council members discussed the new agreement with Everett. Somers said the understanding will jump-start the $162 million project that county leaders authorized with past votes.
County staff expect to submit updated environmental impact documents to the city on Tuesday. City planners rejected earlier versions of those documents in January, saying they failed to address parking and other impacts.
“They’re anticipating that we can get permitted in roughly four weeks, and hopefully sooner,” county facilities director Mark Thunberg said. “The sooner we get the building going, the better off we’re going to be.”
Construction of the new 143-foot-tall court building would start in July and conclude in the fall of 2017, according to the county’s most recent timeline. When complete, it would stand eight stories tall.
At least two county council members remain uncomfortable with the course the county and city are pursuing.
Councilman Ken Klein said he’d like to have a cheaper alternative on hand in case the county needs to go back to the drawing board, given the problems thus far.
“I think it’s important for us to have a backup plan,” Klein said. Options include remodeling the county’s current 1967-vintage courthouse, which the county plans to demolish when a new building is ready, or building a cheaper structure on another site. Previous councils considered and rejected those ideas.
The nearly $1.4 million it would cost to design a detailed alternative project is simply too steep for the already tight courthouse construction budget, Somers said. That figure was quoted to the county by courthouse architect Heery International of Atlanta, Thunberg said.
The site the County Council chose for the new courthouse in November 2013, with the support of County Executive John Lovick’s administration, was the most expensive under consideration. Most of the site on the north side of Wall Street, between Rockefeller and Oakes avenues, is a county-owned parking lot. The county also condemned six privately owned parcels, including law offices, to make way for the building’s footprint.
Councilman Terry Ryan also asked Lovick’s staff to provide more details on financing the project and how much extra a looming increase in interest rates would cost when it comes time to take out more bonds.
“For my vote, I need to make sure I have confidence in the numbers and what they’re based on,” Ryan said.
The city had been pushing the county to supply more than 300 parking stalls. The City Council passed an emergency ordinance on Dec. 24 to back up those demands. The county designed the courthouse with only 30 to 40 spaces and feared complying with Everett’s wishes would bust the budget.
The new garage would help supply demand during events at Xfinity Arena, next to the proposed courthouse.
Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465, nhaglund@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @NWhaglund.
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