Anticipation builds for courthouse
Rockbridge County Planning Director Tom Higgins is confident that the new county courthouse at Randolph and Nelson streets is everything the area needs and expected.
The new facility will meet the Code of Virginia Criminal Procedure, safety standards and security needs. The building is outfitted with 111 video security cameras.
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| The Rockbridge County Courthouse is projected to be complete in January 2009. (JOHN HENDERSON/Rockbridge Report) |
“Everything is going to be closely monitored,” said Higgins, the project engineer.
Presiding Circuit Judge Michael S. Irvine is pleased with progress on the new facility and looks forward to its completion in late January.
“It will just be a lot more organized and safer,” he said.
Lexington Police Chief Steve Crowder is also excited.
“It will be great having all the courts in one building,” Crowder said. That will make police officers’ jobs a lot easier, he said.
Numerous efforts to reach county Sheriff Bob Day, the man ultimately in charge of security at the new courthouse, were unsuccessful.
A major problem with the old courthouse was that prisoners, court staff and the public all entered through the same door. Built in 1896, the structure had no room to separate them. The new building should solve that problem.
The new courthouse will have separate sections of the building for prisoners, for court staff and for the public, including separate elevators and stairs.
“Now a child molester and the child’s parents can be kept separate,” Higgins said. Until they are seated in the courtroom, none of them will cross paths.
The new building also has space for private witness rooms and attorney rooms, as well as a room for visiting judges. There is also talk of developing a room specifically for the Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court, currently located at 150 South Main St.
“It’s a big building, but it is definitely going to be very secure, and all the courts are now in one building,” Higgins said.
A 144-space parking deck is attached to the building, addressing another common complaint in Lexington’s cramped downtown. At least three parking spaces will be reserved for judges and another 16 for clerks and court staff.
As far back as 1974 a circuit judge said the old courthouse was unsatisfactory and in need of renovation. Voters rejected a proposal to build a new one. Then, in 2004, a judge sued the county Board of Supervisors and the Lexington City Council, saying the courthouse was so decrepit and crowded that it failed to meet state requirements.
The plan for a new courthouse was approved in January 2007. The debate about the design and aesthetics of the courthouse had been heated, though all parties agreed that the old courthouse was inadequate.
A month later, Lexington Mayor John Knapp and county Supervisors Chairman Harvey Hotinger broke ground for the new courthouse beneath the Nelson Street overpass.
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