New Circuit Courthouse

Our current courthouse is outdated, and was originally designed with a single courtroom and county offices. It has been remodeled countless times to accommodate 11 courtrooms.

Further, it was not built to modern seismic standards, and retrofitting for seismic events is not a prudent decision if it no longer meets the needs of the community. A recent appraisal indicates the building is at the end of its economic life. The building also forces victims of violence to come into contact in hallways with the same people who committed crimes against them. This is intimidating for witnesses and victims, and creates an overall safety issue for all courthouse users.

Lastly, because of the safety issues, the county is requesting half of the construction costs for the new courthouse from the State, creating a one-time opportunity to get this accomplished at minimal cost to the residents of Clackamas County.

Please see the Project Fact Sheet for more.

The 215,000-square-foot courthouse will have:

• 14 courtrooms
• 20 judicial chambers
• Offices for the District Attorney
• Secure loading and staging areas
• Improved prisoner transfer facilities
• Jury assembly and grand jury spaces
• Safe corridors for courthouse users
• Secure holding cells for violent offenders

The new courthouse design integrates into the existing 68-acre Red Soils Campus and takes a forward-thinking approach to operations, security, technology, and sustainability. The courthouse providing full court services will balance public accessibility, building occupant security, operational efficiencies, and the incorporation of proven technological developments, to provide a facility that is functionally advanced.

The courthouse design will embody the ideals of our democratic society through the creation of an image that is permanent, solid, and durable while simultaneously reflecting the transparency that is the hallmark of the American justice system.

The interior design vision emerged from the simultaneous consideration of interior wayfinding, operational clarity, user wellness, and trauma-informed design. The new courthouse design is defined by an abundance of daylight with uninterrupted views providing a powerful connection to the outdoors to support the principles of trauma-informed design by engaging people’s natural affiliation for nature and views.

Plus, by moving to the Red Soils Campus, courthouse users will now only be steps away from departments such as: Social Services; Behavioral Health; Public Health; Juvenile; Veterans Services; and the Family Justice Center. This means that people don’t have to drive all over town to access the various functions of county government, and proximity will improve efficiency and collaboration between these different public service agencies.

• This project will also provide a big boost for the local economy.
• It will create local jobs with competitive wages, and provide opportunities for local labor and businesses.
• Clackamas Progress Partners are committed to hiring local disadvantaged, minority-owned, women-owned and service-disabled-veteran-owned businesses.
• This project also supports the county’s Climate Action Plan.
• The County’s “Performance Clackamas” is looking for carbon neutral operations by 2050, while Oregon’s Climate Action Plan looks for a 45% reduction in greenhouse gasses by 2035.
• Combatting climate change is a clear, stated priority for the County. The courthouse design has incorporated an aggressive decarbonization strategy that minimizes carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions from resource use.
• Carbon emissions have been reduced by 35% as compared to the highly efficient Oregon minimally code compliant baseline. Beyond simply saving annual energy, carbon and energy cost, the courthouse design decreases the County’s exposure to a potentially volatile energy market.
• Design selections made by Clackamas Progress Partners in collaboration with Clackamas County focus on operations, security, technology, and sustainability.
• Best-practices in use of materials, systems and energy efficiency are embedded within the design to attain LEED Version 4.1 Gold Certification, which is the next generation standard for green building design, construction, operations and performance.
• The courthouse project is participating in the Oregon Green Energy Technology in Public Buildings program, which will include technology to produce at least 25-percent of the building energy onsite.
• The use of mass timber adds to our sustainability commitment and will bring an immediate connection to Oregon as community members enter the courthouse.

No. Simply put, we need more space for enough judges and courtrooms — right now we have enough of a population for three additional judges to handle, but we have no space for them or courtrooms, which leads to serious delays in justice.

A new courthouse will:

• Improve safety, as the current courthouse was never designed to have so many courtrooms therefore victims of violence are forced to come into contact in hallways with the same people who committed those crimes
• Create a more responsive and efficient local justice system, greater measures of safety for victims, and increased accessibility
• Place residents steps away from other important co-located services, such as social services, behavioral health, public health, and more.

The county plans to build the new courthouse on the county’s Red Soils Campus in Oregon City by 2025. That will meet projected county needs for the next 50 years and comply with specifications outlined by the Oregon Judicial Department.

Yes. There are two distinct types of juvenile proceedings: delinquency and dependency. The new courthouse will hold both types of court proceedings.

Yes! Rather than being located in downtown Oregon City with extremely limited parking options, the new courthouse will have access to public transit and free parking. The county will comply with all Oregon City parking requirements for the campus.

The future of the Main Street courthouse has not been determined by the Board of County Commissioners at this time, although a committee made up of members from Oregon City and the County is preparing a report to provide recommendations to help guide the Board’s decisions.

A P3 (Public-Private Partnership) is a contractual agreement between a public agency—in this case, Clackamas County—and a private entity, Clackamas Progress Partners, where the private sector assumes significant responsibility for designing, building, financing, operating, and maintaining a public infrastructure project, such as the Clackamas County Circuit Courthouse. This model employs a holistic approach that unites a diverse team comprising the concessionaire (financer), designer, builder, lenders, and maintenance and operations providers into a single, cohesive consortium. The private entity shares the risks and rewards with the public entity. This partnership enables the private sector to contribute capital and expertise to public projects, fostering innovation and efficiency. Additionally, the integration of the client’s stakeholders and user groups during the design development phases is essential to align the technical provisions of the contract with the detailed requirements of the overall project program.

Clackamas Progress Partners is comprised of Fengate, PCL Investments, PCL Construction, DLR Group, and Honeywell.

Courthouse Construction BUDGET Summary*

* Amounts above reflect the budget; actuals may be differ 
** Estimated costs which include 20% contingency 
*** $1 million from County Funds, remainder is from Federal sources

These costs will be paid from County General Funds.

The clinic buildings were owned and operated by Clackamas County before they were demolished for the replacement Courthouse construction. Costs to move the clinic to the Development Services Building (DSB) temporarily, and the new clinic located in Milwaukie were approximately $170,000.

The purchase price of the new building for the Behavioral Health Clinic was $11 million.  At almost double the size of the previous clinics, additional space for the new facility is needed due to increased demand for services. The demand has increased 17% since moving from the Oregon City site. Clinic funding sources for the purchase and tenant improvements are as follows:

• $2.85 million        American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA)
• $7.00 million        Health Center Bond  (Source: primarily from Medicaid and other Federal grants)
• $1 - 2 million        Health Center Reserves  (Source: primarily from Medicaid and other Federal grants)
• $1.00 million        General Fund Support*

* NOTE: Community Development Block Grant Funds were used to construct the old clinics; the County had to either repay the federal funds or reinvest an equivalent amount in the new clinic.

No, it is not eligible for 50% reimbursement from the State of Oregon. The District Attorney’s office space is funded by the County’s General Fund.

There was only one bid process for the replacement Courthouse: the P3 process.  A Value-for-Money (VFM) analysis was completed to determine the optimal financial and delivery approach presented to the Board of County Commissioners on February 18, 2020.  The document link is:   
https://dochub.clackamas.us/documents/drupal/e1440e2d-f769-4175-9a6f-a5e41eb96ed9

Cost estimates in the session material were:

• The total project cost was approximately $220 million (estimate)
• Courthouse construction - $190 million (estimate)
• On-campus parking additions, roadway changes and re-routing, intersection signalization, Red Soils Master Plan updates, District Attorney’s office portion of the replacement Courthouse building, and related soft costs associated with the replacement Courthouse $30 million (estimate)

As determined in the budget presented above in question #2, the construction costs for the Courthouse increased from an estimated amount of $220 million, to a construction cost of $283 million due to inflation related to COVID.  However, the estimated costs related to parking lots, road improvements, as well as other expenses continue to come close to the estimated $30 million and are now budgeted at $30.4 million.

FY23-24 Budget

No reductions in Elected Offices.

Courthouse Milestone and Annual Payments
The $130 million milestone payment to our vendor in May 2025 will be made available in advance from the State of Oregon Department of Justice. The State issued bonds in the spring 2021 ($94.5 million) and 2025 ($45 million) - these funds are solely for the Courthouse related projects ($.5million) and the milestone payment ($130 million).

These payments will be made from the County’s General Fund. While funding the courthouse is expected to impact the county’s fiscal constraints for the next 30 years, there is sufficient cash available for the annual payments due to the County’s strategic budgeting including updated cost allocation methodology, streamlining expenses, and careful monitoring of operational use of funds.

The 30-year forecast projects annual payments for the replacement Courthouse, maintenance, and capital replacement costs. Together these average $15 million annually. (Note: The Facilities Management Services Agreement includes maintenance and operations of the building for 30 years including HVAC replacement, security systems and replacement, cleaning, etc.)

The total 30-year costs - principal and interest - include the Facilities Management Services Agreement, Courthouse construction costs, and project agreement amount (payment for loan including interest) is approximately $620 million.