Fredericksburg Circuit Court Judge Gordon F. Willis last night called Fredericksburg's courts "a tragedy waiting to happen."
He said the court buildings offer inadequate security, and added that they don't have nearly enough space for the caseloads the city is seeing now, and will see in the future.
He made pretty clear what timeline he wants the City Council to work on to build a new courts complex:
"Any delay is unacceptable," Willis said. "This council has the opportunity here tonight to implement its plan, and it is the courts' expectation that they will do so."
Council members didn't exactly do that last night. They didn't approve an agenda item that would have authorized the city and the U.S. Postal Service to move forward with more than $300,000 worth of pre-development work needed to keep planning for a new courts complex on Princess Anne Street.
They did vote 5-1, with Councilman Matt Kelly opposed and Councilman Hashmel Turner absent, to ask the city manager to break that predevelopment work into smaller pieces. The idea is for the council to be able to say stop or go at points along the way, with the understanding that some of these studies might raise red flags that would dramatically affect the estimated cost of the courts.
This means that the council will once again be asked to vote on the courts planning work in two weeks to a month.
The vote came after a half-dozen city residents asked council members not to move forward with the project--roughly estimated to cost more than $54 million--at a time of economic crisis.
Several speakers asked the city to look at other options before committing to building on the post office site, which brings with it the added cost of moving the post office's carrier operation outside of Fredericksburg.
"A second alternative needs to be evaluated thoroughly," said local architect Raymond Herlong. "Do not accept that [a new complex] is the best answer simply because it is the only option on the table."
Councilman Brad Ellis also said he wants the city to look at more alternatives.
Council members discussed in a work session before the meeting the studies that had been done for more than a year on where to put the courts. As a result of those studies, council members rejected proposals to build courts on land they currently own, including the Juvenile and Domestic Relations court site and the Executive Plaza.
Councilman George Solley said that when council members made the decision last year to put the courts on the post office site, "We knew it was more expensive."
The decision was made after several groups, including Downtown Retail Marketing and the Fredericksburg Area Bar Association, asked the city not to move the courts out of downtown.
Councilman Kelly said his biggest concern is that the city just can't afford this project now.
"When we started down this road, the situation financially wasn't great, but it wasn't anything like it is now," Kelly said. "There has been a major shift in the economic picture."
Solley said that the vote council members delayed last night is simply a vote to keep moving, not a final commitment to the project.
He said to stop now, before anybody knows how the recession will work out, or even how much the courts will really cost, "would be based on an incomplete picture."
Emily Battle: 540/374-5413
Email: ebattle@freelancestar.com