Supes given 3 courthouse expansion options
CANTON — The results of a 2018 courthouse expansion study commissioned by the Madison County Board of Supervisors show it's going to be expensive.
The study, conducted by Flowood-based JH&H Architects, presented supervisors with three options to fix their overcrowding problem in the existing Circuit Court building, located on the corner of North Union Street and East North Street in Canton.
JH&H President Carl Franco presented the results of the study, which he said really dates back as far as 2015 when a past board was looking for ways to create more space for county services in the existing building.
"We've been through multiple, multiple options," Franco told the board. "We had meetings and interviews with over 20 users, staffs, judges and county representatives over that period… We took their input and put together ‘space programs' to determine what Madison County's needs are."
The first, and most expensive option, would be to build a new courthouse facility on the existing property. That proposed new facility would be approximately 62,000 square feet and construction cost estimates from JH&H put the cost at $22 million for construction alone. After furnishing the building, Franco said the total estimate for a new building would be around $25 million.
A second option would be to renovate and add on to the existing courthouse. That proposal would include an additional 33,000 square feet of space and fix existing cracking from natural erosion visible in some parts of the building. The total price tag for that fix, Franco said, is somewhere around $21 million.
The third — and cheapest option — Franco presented to the supervisors was to repurpose a building 62,000-square-foot building the county already owns on Watford Parkway Drive. The building already houses the Win Job Center, but Franco said the building would provide more than enough room with minimal site development costs. With updated landscaping, repaving the parking lot and renovation of the building, the county would be looking at a $17.5 million price tag for that option.
Franco added that the rise in mass shootings had made architects rethink the way they design buildings, adding a focus on security. As an example, he pointed to the new Rankin County Courthouse, which requires employee key cards to access all areas except the courtrooms.
"You want to protect both the administrative staff and the public," he said. "In terms of shooting incidents, the only way to control that type thing is to have keycard access in certain areas."
New Rankin County facility there's access control over everything except the courtrooms.
Following the presentation, the board voted unanimously to enter the study into the minutes. Board President Gerald Steen thanked Franco for his presentation.
"You've given us a lot to think about," Steen said.