New Justice Center Plans Call for Smaller Court Tower

(KNSI) – The vision for a scaled-down justice center was presented to the Stearns County Board of Commissioners at Tuesday’s work session.

Administrator Mike Williams explains that while the jail portion was largely untouched, the wing housing the courts could look significantly different.

“The team went back to the drawing board and was able to show a little bit of a smaller building. The main change was the court’s tower. What the architects brought back was a reduction of a floor, so now we’re looking at a four-story facility, rather than a five-story.”

Chopping off the top floor is being offset somewhat due to an increase in the footprint in one of the lower stories. Williams says it doesn’t cancel things out completely, and the revised design would result in fewer courtrooms.

Williams points out that the change will help the taxpayers’ bottom line. “This was roughly $9 million in savings. And, of course, they’re still honing in on design, and we don’t have a full-fledged, complete cost estimate. That’s going to come to us in April.”

The initial design was estimated at $319 million, which is reduced to a preliminary figure of about $310 million. The county has the right to raise up to $325 million through a 3/8 cent sales tax.

If necessary, another work session could be scheduled in February or March. There was no update on the negotiations taking place for the county to buy 68 acres of land at County Highway 75 and County Road 134 near the western border of St. Cloud, which is the proposed site for the complex.

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