Courthouse Replacement Project

The county’s population was slightly more than 50,000 when the courthouse opened in 1937. Our population (in 2019) is north of 415,000.

Our current courthouse is outdated, and was originally designed with a single courtroom and county offices.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.

No. Our current buildings at the Red Soils Campus are at capacity, and none were designed to meet the specialized needs of a courthouse – which requires specialized features such as isolated circulation zones. Further, a remodeling of any existing building to be adequate for courtrooms would be a terribly inefficient use of taxpayer dollars.

The current plan allows for a 215,000 square foot courthouse that features 16 courtrooms, 20 judicial chambers, adequate space for the District Attorney’s Office, public/staff screening areas, administrative space, jury assembly spaces, secure loading/staging spaces, enhanced prisoner transfer facilities, Grand Jury space, safe corridors for courthouse users, and secure holding cells for violent offenders.

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.

No. Simply put, we need more space for enough judges and courtrooms – right now we have enough of a population for 3 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.

We’re at the end of the planning phase, during which we’ve determined our future needs. We’ve also begun our initial relocating of some county operations to accommodate a new courthouse on our Red Soils campus.

With the recent state funding, the next phase is Design and Pre-Construction, which we estimate will take 18 months.

Last, we’ll move into the Construction and Relocation phase, which should take another three years or so to complete.

We anticipate the Grand Opening to occur in late 2023. Please see our Construction Schedule for more.

The public defender needs a space separate from the courthouse facility, and Clackamas County does not have legal aid.

The increase is due to rising costs for construction materials and other construction-related items.

There are two types of Juvenile Court – delinquency and dependency. The new courthouse will hold the dependency portion, which is currently operated out of the existing courthouse.

Delinquency is operated from the Juvenile building on the Red Soils Campus (in close proximity to the new courthouse) and will remain there.

Absolutely not. County Commissioners have no desire to have a courthouse that has unnecessarily opulent features. Rather, they seek to build a courthouse as efficiently as possible. That means building one that’s safe, modern and meets the needs of the population.

Further, commissioners have 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. The county recently was awarded $100,000 from the U.S. Forest Service to consider how CLT could be used in the construction of a new county courthouse.

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

There is nothing in the county’s plans to tear the current building down. Our current position is that the building will become surplus property once the new courthouse is built. There is no intended future use by the county, and the building will likely be sold to a new owner who commits to remodeling and refurbishing the building for new uses.

The county is taking advantage of a one-time opportunity and requesting half of the construction costs for the new courthouse from the State of Oregon. Doing so would accomplish this task at minimal cost to the residents of Clackamas County.

In July 2019, the state agreed to match $31.5 million for the second phase of the project, Design and Pre-Construction. State funding is contingent upon Clackamas County securing funds for the local share of the project. County officials are currently exploring various local funding options, which may include a voter-approved bond measure.

The total courthouse project cost is estimated at $230 million, of which the county will be responsible for approximately $135 million. The state is expected to provide its final funding in the 2021 legislative session for the remainder of the cost.

Road funds, by law, are completely separate from courthouse funds. Road funds can only come from dedicated road funding sources (state gas tax, vehicle registration fees), and these funds can only go to roads.

Clackamas County is fully committed to funding construction of a new courthouse.