On the courts…

The above image was generated by Moseley Architects for the presentation the firm gave to the City Council last night. It is not a rendering of what the courts will look like, it’s just a drawing to give you an idea of how the court building, office building and residential development could fit on this site. The corner in the front of the drawing is the intersection of Princess Anne and Charlotte streets.

To take a look at the presentation the city staff gave on the courts last night (including the numbers, project background, etc.) click here. To see Moseley’s presentation, which includes floor plans and a master plan for the site, click here.

Today’s story about the council meeting has generated some of the same diversity of views we saw from the council members last night.

"Resident57" says:

I have to disagree with Councilmen Kelly and Ellis on this issue. While I am in no way a fan of tax hikes, this is one cost that I, as a city resident, would be willing to endure. Plan accordingly, include the garage and be done with it. A delay will only result in an overall increase down the road. The downside? The bldg is projected to carry the city only until 2030…a mere 18 yrs after a 2012 completion date. IMO an inadequate ROI. Perhaps we need to plan for an even larger facility.

"CraigBuck," meanwhile, says:

Kelly’s right we can’t afford it. That’s because the city wasted so much money on an empty parking garage, three-month-a-year swimming pool, a river park land-grab and a Taj Mahal high school. The court is a bigger need than all of those combined – yet it came last. Better find a way to pay for it now before we have a disastrous loss of records, a jail break or the thing falls down on our heads.

Feel free to leave your questions and comments on this issue below, as we are working on a follow-up story on the courts decision.

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