Stanislaus County courthouse in Modesto slated for an overhaul

A $77 million courthouse for Stanislaus County is high on a priority list of projects throughout the state, and higher court fees and fines could pay for it.

The new courthouse, a U-shaped, seven- to eight-story building at the site of the current courthouse downtown, would be built in phases, according to a master plan on file with the courts.

At completion, the courthouse would have 40 courtrooms, up from 16. It would provide nearly five times the space of the current courthouse and, coupled with a Turlock courthouse in the master plan, would meet the county's needs for many years.

The Modesto courthouse is among the top eight projects in the state on a list compiled by the Administrative Office of the Courts.

The list has 152 projects in five categories: immediate need, critical need, high need, medium need and low need. The scores are based on security issues, crowding, physical condition and access to services.

The Modesto courthouse is considered an immediate need, along with 33 other projects. The Turlock courthouse, 13 courtrooms at a cost of $8.5 million, is on the critical need list. There are 34 projects on the critical need list.

Finding the money for the projects would seem to be a major stumbling block, given the state's $15.2 billion budget deficit. The 152 projects would cost $9.3 billion.

But a bill sponsored by Sen. Don Perata, D-Oakland, would increase court fees and fines and sell lease revenue bonds based on the new court income to finance the projects. Senate Bill 1407 would raise an estimated $5 billion, enough to cover the immediate and critical need projects.

The bond proposal is opposed by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, according to the legislative analysis. The Jarvis association said the state shouldn't issue additional bonds because of the deficit and because the state has almost $50 billion in bond debt.

SB 1407 is pending before the Assembly, Perata spokeswoman Lynda Gledhill said. Then it would need the governor's signature. The state budget impasse provides another hurdle; the governor has pledged not to sign any bills until the Legislature passes a budget.

"He would have until Sept. 30 to sign it, and I hope we have a budget before then," Gledhill said.

She said the Modesto courthouse should be included in the bill's funding, although it is not one of the projects identified by the state's Judicial Council for the first two years. The 34 "immediate need" projects would cost $2.43 billion. "It may be in bond year three or four," she said.

That might put the funding for the Modesto facility five or six years out, because the state would wait to figure out how much money the new fees generate before selling bonds, Gledhill said.

Bob Emerson, assistant director of the Office of Court Construction and Management at the Administrative Office of the Courts, said the bond issue should cover all projects identified as immediate and critical, which would include Modesto and Turlock — although he declined to predict whether those projects would be funded.

Should the bill become law, the Judicial Council is expected to make recommendations in December on which projects it would like to see funded, Emerson said. The council has identified projects for fiscal years 2008-09 and 2009-10.

A facilities master plan for Stanislaus County courts done five years ago shows the Modesto courthouse being built in four phases, with the existing building being demolished and employees moving into each successive phase.

The phases would take place over several years, aimed at meeting the county's courtroom needs in 2022, the master plan says.

The courthouse project would include a $9 million parking structure, according to the state's trial court capital outlay plan.

The statewide planning for courthouse needs comes as a result of the 1997 legislation calling for the transfer of county court buildings to the state. Stanislaus County is negotiating that transfer, which must be complete by the end of next year.

The age of the courthouse, parts of which date to 1938, has complicated negotiations, according to Tim Fedorchak, sen-ior management consultant in the county's chief executive office.

State inspectors have questioned how reinforcing steel bars are tied into the columns of the oldest part of the courthouse, Fedorchak said — details that have been lost in the intervening 70 years. Finding out would require a destructive test of the columns, he said.

The alternative is for the county to transfer the building but retain liability for any seismic damage.

"We live under the belief that the building is built like a battleship," Fedorchak said.

The age of the building has become an issue with the courts moving into the space formerly occupied by the district attorney's office. Any major remodeling, for instance to put in new courtrooms, would require that the building be brought up to 2008 building codes, Fedorchak said. That would be prohibitively expensive, he said.

And the cost of major remodeling has to be weighed against the remaining life of the building.

While the state would build and own the courthouse, the county will remain in possession of the lawn in front of it, with its war memorials and the fountain with Chief Estanislao. The county will own the only other building remaining on the block, the county jail.

County officials want to demolish the downtown jail and the honor farm on Grayson Road, replacing them with an expanded public safety center on East Hackett Road. The estimated price for that plan is $210.5 million, plus $17.3 million in annual staffing costs. With the weak economy and state budget crisis, the county is deferring plans to set aside money for the jail project.

Bee staff writer Tim Moran can be reached at tmoran@modbee.com or 578-2349.

This story was originally published August 14, 2008 at 4:31 AM with the headline "Stanislaus County courthouse in Modesto slated for an overhaul."