The Olympia Site Plan Review Committee heard a proposal for the Thurston County courthouse renovation project at 2000 Lakeridge Drive SW.
At the committee meeting held Wednesday, December 20, Rick Thomas, Capital Project Planning manager for Thurston County, presented the proposed renovation of five buildings on the county courthouse campus to provide office and court space for the next five to seven years.
Thomas explained that the county needs more office and court space to accommodate the growing demand for services. He said all the county non-judicial administrative offices have moved from the hilltop campus to a building on Pacific Avenue. "This is to provide office space on the hilltop for our judicial system."
Thomas said the goal is to provide space until a new combined Olympia-Thurston courthouse can be built.
Thomas mentioned that about four to five years ago, a long-range plan was to build a combined Olympia and Thurston County Courthouse and administration facility downtown. This project was ready to go to voters for a $250 million bond approval. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic disrupting plans, the county put this larger project on hold.
Thomas said the Thurston County manager had asked him to reopen the project with a new program plan that would be submitted to the county commissioners soon. He noted that the proposed renovations would only provide space to accommodate the county’s needs for another five to seven years while they work to restart the larger, long-term project.
A vital part of the project is a 6,000-square-foot addition planned for Building 2. Thomas said the additional is necessary to meet security requirements by separating judicial staff, the public, and detainees.
Thomas said the Thurston County Board of Commissioners approved a $15 million bond for the courthouse renovation project.
He noted that this budget is just enough to complete the necessary tenant improvement changes to the interior spaces of the five buildings. The limited budget would only allow them to do a little work on the HVAC and electrical systems. It would only support the new office configurations.
In reviewing the planning aspect of the project, Olympia associate planner Jackson Ewing noted that the proposed addition to Building 2 would require a detailed geotechnical report. The area is located within a landslide hazard zone.
Ewing said the geotechnical report must demonstrate that the addition would not cause further slope instability or landslide issues.
Given the landslide hazard, Ewing also expressed concern about potential modifications to the access road and utilities near the addition site. He said this area's full scope of work would need to be addressed, not just the building construction.
Based on the proposal involving over 5,000 square feet of new/replaced hard surfaces from the building addition and utility work, engineering plans examiner Zulaika Kim stated that a stormwater meeting would be required.
The meeting would discuss stormwater mitigation plans, utility relocations, and construction/post-construction stormwater management.
Kim added that the addition would trigger some transportation improvements like ADA ramps.
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fyancey
The failure of the county to maintain its current courthouse complex is shameful. Look around at the lack of preventative maintenance and they want to add more to neglect?
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