MACHIAS, Maine — The wet December weather has not slowed construction on the $8.5 million addition to the Washington County Courthouse.
The work is due to be completed next fall, according to Jeff Henthorn, director of court facilities for the judiciary. Once court operations have moved to the new facility, renovations to the second-floor courtroom will begin. The first-floor courtroom, which is now shared, will be used exclusively by the county Probate Court.
Site work began this summer, with the project proceeding in three phases, according to Henthorn. The first phase required the court system to purchase a former nursing home on Cooper Street so the lot could be turned into a parking lot, since the addition is located on the court’s former parking area.
The second phase is the construction of the addition itself, Henthorn said Wednesday. The third and final stage will be renovations to the original courthouse, built in 1855.
The project has been on a list of updates to courthouses around the state since 2009, according to a previously published report. It is part of an effort to combine District and Superior Court clerks’ offices and to modernize facilities.
A $5 million addition to the Piscataquis County Courthouse in Dover-Foxcroft was completed in February 2012. It was similar to the $2.5 million project that has put the offices of Houlton District Court and the Superior Court under one roof and was completed in April 2009.
Much larger projects also have been completed under the tenure of Superior Court Justice Leigh I. Saufley.
The new, 120,000-square-foot Capital Judicial Center in Augusta is expected to open to the public March 1 after a gradual move-in. Ground was broken 2½ years ago on the project.
The $36.4 million Penobscot Judicial Center combined the former Bangor District Court and Penobscot County Superior Court, both previously located on Hammond Street. A ceremonial groundbreaking was held on Sept. 21, 2007, and the building opened on Nov. 23, 2009.
In addition to a new clerk’s office, the addition in Machias will include two new courtrooms, chambers for two judges, a large conference room, small conference rooms where attorneys can meet privately with clients and additional space for the Washington County Registrar of Deeds office, Henthorn said.
“The deeds office temporarily moved across Cooper Street into the post office building,” he said Wednesday. “They move back in when the addition is completed and gain about 400 square feet of space, which they desperately needed.”
The addition also will make the building handicapped accessible. It also will allow prisoners to be separated from the public. Corrections officers must escort prisoners through public areas to courtrooms now.
Once the addition is finished, renovations to the historic courtroom begin. Henthorn said the witness box with the rounded railing will have to be replaced to accommodate a redesign of the bench. Modern benches allow clerks and judges to be closer to each other, making it easier for them to share information and paperwork.
The railings, benches, tables and wainscoting will stay, but the jury chairs will be replaced. Henthorn said he found chairs that are used but in good condition in the old Augusta courthouse.
The final phase is scheduled to be completed in December 2015.