ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, December 4, 1996 TAG: 9612040034
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: RADFORD
SOURCE: LESLIE HAGER-SMITH STAFF WRITER
Radford City Council came five steps closer to solving the city's space crunch Monday night. That's the number of design options council eliminated by voting for a new building that would house the courts and three of the city's five constitutional offices.
The site of the new courthouse remains to be decided.
Offices of the clerk of court, the sheriff and the commonwealth's attorney would move to the new courthouse, under the plan approved Monday. The commissioner of revenue and the treasurer would remain with the city's administrative offices in the current Municipal Building at 619 Second St.
Some on council had anticipated a final vote on where to build the new courthouse after Monday night's executive session. That didn't happen, though the planning process has been under way for more than a year and only two undisclosed sites remain under consideration.
Instead, City Council's vote Monday was designed to officially reduce the number of options under consideration and limit the scope of the plans for the new building. The vote passed 4 to 1. Councilman Dave Worrell voted - after a long pause and a deep sigh - against.
"I am most supportive of improved court facilities," Worrell said later. "But I am opposed to it being a stand-alone building. We haven't really given [an expansion option] a fair hearing. I think it is imperative that the municipal and court facilities be located near each other."
Hansen Lind Meyer Inc. was originally asked to study three options for modifying the existing Municipal Building in order to address overcrowding and unsafe conditions that have plagued the facility for years. Concurrently with their efforts, the Radford City Planning Commission undertook a study that produced half a dozen concepts for building, as well.
During the process, the Carilion Health System offered the city the present Radford Community Hospital building, which will be replaced in 1998. That alternative was studied and rejected because of the hospital's location and the nature of the renovations that would be required. Worrell proposed a fourth option for expanding the existing Municipal Building in order to keep the courts and government offices together. But it was reviewed and rejected at the same time as the hospital option. He tried to revive it Monday, but again failed to gain support.
Worrell's option would have cost the least of all those under consideration. It called for an addition that would sprawl across Robertson Street to the west of the present building, on a site immediately adjacent.
This relatively low-cost option would still cost two thirds of the estimated $6.5 million that a new free-standing facility would cost, according to Thompson & Litton, an architectural and engineering firm working in tandem with the architects. Moreover, it would be adequate for an estimated 10 to 15 years, while a newly designed free-standing facility would be planned to last for 50 years and beyond.
Commonwealth's Attorney Randal Duncan, too, urged council members to keep the government offices together. He cited his experience in Montgomery County, where a single title search can involve visits to three different offices in different locations.
"I would not want to be any of you. Regardless of what decision you make, someone will criticize the decision of council," Duncan said.
Councilman Bill Yerrick rejected Worrell's argument for keeping Radford's offices centralized. Yerrick cited the rapid increase in electronic transactions in recent years. Even real estate, he said, will soon change hands electronically. Yerrick is director of telecommunications and distance learning at Radford University.
One council member came prepared to abstain altogether because of fiscal concerns. A report prepared by Director of Finance Jess Cantline indicated that perhaps $1.5 million might be available in reserve funds and could be used to get the project moving. Another $1.5 million was lent by council to the city school system and will be repaid in the next 12 months when a
literary loan from the state is received. These two figures would total nearly half the cost of a new free-standing courthouse.
Polly Corn, a retired Virginia Tech accounting instructor, expressed her concern that the report was not sufficiently conservative. Recommendations are that at least 10 percent of the operating budget should be kept in reserve at all times, she noted. By the close of the session, she had to "bite the bullet" in her own words. Corn reluctantly supported the mayor's motion to build a separate new building for a limited number of government offices.
A theme that ran throughout the council members' remarks was the importance of far-sighted planning. Recalling that the current Municipal Building was criticized as inadequate almost as soon as it was built, Annyce Levy said that the council should set its sights on the next 50 to 100 years. She charged her fellow council members with spending public funds wisely and said it was their obligation to "make sure what you've done is forever."
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