Clackamas County’s courthouse was built in 1936 to house county offices and a single courtroom. All the county offices have been relocated, and in their place 10 additional courtrooms have been retrofitted into a building designed for a single courtroom.
While it continues to serve hundreds – sometimes thousands – of residents daily, the facility has been pushed to its limits and can no longer be remodeled to safely meet the demands of our ever-increasing population. While the safety of families, victims, children, visitors and staff is of greatest concern, due to limited resources, we cannot ensure justice is served as expediently as our community deserves.
The Overwhelming Need
Factoring in population growth, the significant safety risks, and current impediments, replacement of the courthouse is needed as soon as possible. Primary reasons include:
- Lack of security/safety: Our current courthouse was never designed to house multiple courtrooms and the current configuration with 11 courtrooms forces victims to be right next to defendants in public areas and courtrooms themselves. Families of perpetrators can be next to witnesses causing concern for safety and witness intimidation. Jurors have no assembly room on site, leaving them potentially exposed to improper communications.
- Delays of justice: There are not enough courtrooms to serve our region’s population.
- Yet, our current courthouse doesn’t have enough room for additional courtrooms or judges, which leads to a backlog of cases and heartbreaking delays in hearings, trials and ultimately resolutions. These delays have a real effect on people, like mothers seeking child support.
- It’s obsolete: Equipment used at the courthouse is far past its useful life, and operating expenses are incurred keeping the building systems running to a moderately acceptable degree. A failure is inevitable.
- Seismic and geographic risk: The courthouse was not built to modern seismic standards, and investing capital dollars in seismic retrofitting of a building that is too small to meet current and future demand is not a prudent decision. Further, the current courthouse is now less than one yard away from an eroding bank of the Willamette River.
The Tremendous Opportunity
The time to act is now. The state of Oregon has established a fund that can provide matching dollars toward the construction of a new courthouse. In 2017, the Legislature provided the county with $1.2 million for project planning costs. In 2019, the Legislature authorized $31.5 million in state bond funds for the project – funds contingent upon Clackamas County securing a local match.
Altogether, the state could cover $95 million in eligible project costs toward the estimated $230 million project.
If Clackamas County doesn’t match this money with local dollars, we would lose out on this immense partnership opportunity with the state.
Updates
- Update (2/13/20): Last October, the Board of County Commissioners authorized staff to consider a Public-Private Partnership, or P3, as an alternative approach to financing, designing, building and maintaining the new county courthouse. IMG Rebel was engaged to provide an analysis of a traditional approach of public financing/project delivery for the courthouse compared to several alterative options, including a public-private partnership (P3) which has been used in the U.S. and internationally to successful design, build and maintain courthouses and other public buildings. The Board of County Commissioners will be presented the results of the IMG Rebel analysis at a Policy Session on February 18, 2020 followed by another Study Session on March 10, 2020 to evaluate options and provide direction on the project.
Courthouse FAQ
Interested Vendor Information
Clackamas County is currently in the process of determining the best procurement/contract method for the new county courthouse project.
The Board of County Commissioners has directed that Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) be used in the construction of the new courthouse to align with the county’s Forest Economic Development and Sustainability policies. A county task force has researched the inclusion of CLT for the project and that research will inform the proposed contracting method.
The county has not retained a primary design or construction firm for the project. Once Requests for Proposals are issued, all formal solicitations for the project will be posted on the County Bid and Contract Information page as well as on the Oregon Public Information Network (ORPIN).
The county is not accepting unsolicited sales information at this time. Please check this website regularly for project updates.
Wood Innovation Grant
Clackamas County was recently awarded $100,000 from the U.S. Forest Service as part of the 2019 Wood Innovation Grant program. The funds are being used by #ClackCo’s Economic Development Division, working with the University of Oregon School of Architecture and Oregon State University’s Tallwood Design Institute, to consider how cross-laminated timber, or mass timber, could be used in the construction of a new county courthouse.
Students in the University of Oregon fall 2019 Design Studio will prepare up to five courthouse designs incorporating mass timber elements. The top selected design will then undergo a Life Cycle Analysis that will include consideration of cost differences and environmental benefits of using mass timber compared with more traditional materials in the construction. The results are expected in spring 2020.
Learn more about the students and their designs.
Resources
- Final Report: National Center for State Courts
- Project Fact Sheet (Updated August 2019)
- 2017 Legislative Report (pg. 13-14; 51-71; 131-142)
- 2019 Legislative Report (pg. 10-12; 74-85)