EVERETT — The Snohomish County Council received some potentially good news for a courthouse renovation, tempered with a few doses of reality.
An engineer told council members Wednesday that the nearly 50-year-old building was built to high earthquake-readiness standards for the period. A renovation project should be able to bring it up to more acceptable modern-day norms that would prevent it from collapsing in the type of devastating earthquake expected about once in a millennium.
Also, a new tower built on the north side of the courthouse could house a more secure entrance, reliable elevators and bathrooms that are more accessible to people with physical disabilities.
Other upgrades, however, are likely to exceed the county’s $62 million renovation budget. Some of the building’s worst shortcomings, such as asbestos materials and serious internal security concerns, are beyond the scope of the current project.
“Our investigation found what we expected to find,” said Doug Kleppin, an architect with Heery International, the Atlanta-based firm the county has contracted to look at remodeling options. “It is an aging building and it does have infrastructure issues, but there were no dramatic surprises that we found, which is good. I think we have strategies to address and mitigate any of those deficiencies.”
County Executive Dave Somers this spring recommended remodeling the courthouse instead of building a new one. The county put the brakes on a new courthouse project last year because of budget concerns, which Somers said were the main reason for his recommendation. A new courthouse was budgeted at $162 million.
A 3-2 majority of the County Council voted in August to pay Heery $1 million to formulate potential renovation plans. The council expects to vote on whether to proceed with the project by the end of the year. The county already had poured nearly $13 million into preparing for a new courthouse, including acquiring property through eminent domain. The downtown offices that were purchased now sit derelict.
County officials have been looking at options to replace or renovate the courthouse for roughly a decade. Finished in 1967, it stands five stories and is clad in pressed-concrete panels.
Kleppin said 28 professionals have spent recent weeks examining aspects of the building, from its electrical and mechanical systems, to its layout and security functions.
One of them was Michael Valley, an engineer with Seattle-based Magnusson Klemencic Associates.
“The original structure was designed by someone who was a pioneer in earthquake engineering in the Puget Sound area, which is a good thing,” Valley said. “But of course we’ve learned a lot in the last 50 years. So although the design was good at the time, we’ve made progress in terms of our knowledge about buildings and their performance in earthquakes.”
A new wing on the plaza to the north of the courthouse could help buttress the existing building, along with adding two shear walls.
The courthouse addition would have a footprint of about 20,000 square feet. How many stories it would be has yet to be determined.
Councilman Brian Sullivan, a skeptic of the renovation plans, said “one glaring question” for him was how long the refurbished building would last. Kleppin said maybe 20 to 25 years, when the need for more space could become an increasing problem. The county’s population is expected to be approaching or above 1 million by that time. It’s about 770,000 people now.
Councilman Ken Klein said the remodel should at least provide enough time to figure out a good long-term plan to replace the courthouse and other aging county buildings.
“It’s just good to hear that there are some good bones there and that the building could last for 25 years,” he said. “That should allow the county to look at the redevelopment of the campus.”
Presiding Superior Court Judge Linda Krese said the architect’s study confirmed some of the long-standing concerns about the current building, particularly the inability to safely separate in-custody inmates from the court staff and people accessing the courts.
“The bench continues to have reservations about whether renovating this building is a wise use of taxpayer funds but are reserving judgment at this time,” Krese said.
Under the initial findings discussed Wednesday, an inmate-transport tunnel would remain in use between the courthouse and the jail. The renovation is unlikely to include a new courtroom inside the jail itself.
The architect cautioned everyone to prepare for distractions, if the renovation project moves ahead in the occupied courthouse with ongoing trials and other legal business.
“I’m not going to oversell,” Kleppin said. “It’s going to be messy. It’s going to be noisy. That’s just the nature of the business.”
Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465; nhaglund@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @NWhaglund.
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