Courthouse construction delay costs county another $200,000
Morgan Hill – A rainy winter delayed the new South County Courthouse currently under construction in Morgan Hill and added another $200,000 in cost to the already expensive project.
The building, originally scheduled for completion in August 2006, won’t be finished until December according to Ken Rato, manager of capital programs from Santa Clara County.
“Overall, progress on the new courthouse is pretty good,” Rato said. “But we’ve had a rainy winter this year and this has caused problems with the groundwater. That’s held up some foundation work in the basement of the courthouse.”
Rato attributed the additional cost to the $100,000 that had to be paid to the contractor for the treatment of the soil and overhead expenses. Initial construction costs were projected at $31.8 million, approximately 20 percent more than County Supervisors originally estimated. The total project cost will top $50 million.
Supervisor Don Gage said he wasn’t aware of the delays or increased costs to the already expensive project. He said the county will likely use contingency dollars or reserves to cover the increases, but that won’t affect programs the county already decided to fund this year.
“We’re so far into this thing that we can’t turn around now,” Gage said. “We’ve wasted millions of dollars on this. At the planning stage, we’ve already invested $12 million. There’s no turning back now – we can’t leave the building unfinished.”
The courthouse is currently under construction on an eight-acre lot at the corner of Butterfield Boulevard and Diana Avenue, south of the Caltrain parking lot in Morgan Hill.
Once finished, the courthouse will replace the San Martin site with two new buildings. A 73,000-square-foot building will hold six courtrooms, jury rooms and an underground holding area for suspects. Another 17,000-square-foot building, called the Justice Agency, will house district attorneys, public defenders and the probation department.
Rato said workers will be pouring concrete for the walls of the courthouse basement next week and they are currently setting structural steel for the framing for the Justice Agency building.
Construction of the courthouse is a collaborative effort by Morgan Hill, Santa Clara County and the Superior Court.
Steve Tate, Mayor Pro Tempore, said the construction delay does not affect the city.
“The city’s part was just the land, it (the construction delay) does not hurt us at all,” said Tate. “I assume this isn’t a surprise to the county since weather delays are prevalent in construction.”
Morgan Hill’s Redevelopment Agency bought the land for $7 million to avoid a lawsuit by the county challenging the RDA’s authority. The creation of the RDA took property tax that would have gone to county coffers.
The county abandoned the San Martin Courthouse complex at Monterey Road and Highland Avenue because mold was discovered in the building. Judges are currently using trailers on the site to conduct hearings. Judges at the South County Courthouse could not be reached for comment.
“(The delay will mean) the judges will just have to stay in the portables a while longer, but they are nice portables and the new building will be worth the wait,” Rato said.
