LYNNWOOD — The short walk inmates in Lynnwood take to get to their court hearings will soon become a short bus ride.
Lynnwood Municipal Court is moving from its current location above the city’s jail to a space nearly twice as large at 4114 198th St. SW — a single-floor building about a half-mile away.
The city’s court has outgrown its current space, Lynnwood Municipal Court Administrator Jill O’Cain said. There isn’t room for new staff members to sit in their own departments, and people waiting in the court lobby often spill over into the stairwell, she said.
The new, 5,975-square-foot building should solve the space problems, while providing a second courtroom that the current 3,690-square-foot location could never have, O’Cain said.
“It was wonderful when we first moved in here, but our staff has more than doubled, and our case loads have doubled,” O’Cain said.
“We have just no room to expand at all. Something had to be done.”
City officials are hoping to complete the court’s move to its new building by spring.
The Lynnwood City Council recently voted to approve a 10-year lease agreement for the new building space. Starting in March, the city will pay $7,220 per month for the new space.
City Councilman Jim Smith was the only council member to vote against the lease agreement. He is concerned about the safety of transporting inmates back and forth between the jail and the court.
“The solution is not renting high-price space in the middle of the city center; the solution should have been to add onto the justice building,” Smith said. “That would have been a better solution.”
The new courtrooms are expected to be equipped with video arraignment technology, meaning that inmates won’t have to leave the jail for their first court appearances, O’Cain said. The new building will also contain holding cells for defendants.
City staff considered expanding the current building, but to do so would have meant eliminating parking places, Lynnwood Economic Development Director David Kleitsch said.
“Parking is tight there,” Kleitsch said. “We would have been building another problem.”
Before the court can be moved, the new building must be remodelled. The city estimates the work could cost another $600,000, Kleitsch said. The City Council has also authorized the purchase of a bus for transporting inmates, and funding for a new security guard at the front door of the new building.
“I’m excited about having the space that allows us to operate in a professional and pleasant atmosphere,” O’Cain said.
Reporter Scott Pesznecker: 425-339-3436 or spesznecker@heraldnet.com.
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