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Monday, March 01, 2010

Courts - More on: Kentucky courthouse spending spree

On Feb. 18, 2010 the ILB posted this entry quoting a Louisville Courier Journal editorial about the courthouse building spending spree in Kentucky and its results. A line from the editorial: "Former Kentucky Supreme Court Chief Justice Joseph E. Lambert embarked on a campaign to replace county courthouses in all of Kentucky's 120 counties."

At the time the ILB noted: "Indiana generally tries to preserve its existing courthouses."

Earlier ILB coverage included links to a Lexington Herald-Leader series titled "Law & Mortar: An examination of a courthouse building boom"noted in this Sept. 18, 2008 entry,.

Now, thanks to the Kentucky Law Blog, here is a lengthy, mid-February story from the Williamson Ky Daily News, headed "Making way for progress?" reported by Julia Roberts Goas. Some quotes:

PIKEVILLE, KY – The wrecking ball is swinging to make room for a new Judicial Center in Pikeville, with construction set to begin despite criticism from several directions. * * *

The new courthouse is one of 70 in the commonwealth that have been authorized, begun construction or completed since 1998. Pike County’s new facility will replace the current Hall of Justice, which was built in 1992 at a cost of $7.3 million. The budget for the new 94,900 square foot building has been set at $28.4 million.

Some of the controversy surrounding the new courthouse is centered on the site on which it will be built. That property is owned by Kentucky Supreme Court Justice Will T. Scott. The planned site takes up roughly 60,000 square feet of land and includes nine properties. Buildings on the block included the Pinson Hotel, Weddington Theater, Raccoon Auto sales, Pike County Artisan Center, law offices and a dry cleaner. Although the county has offered to buy the property, Scott has said he does not want to sell the properties, which means there is no conflict of interest.

Another issue is the preservation of the historic integrity of the city. Some of the buildings demolished for the new courthouse were considered historic, which has made the project controversial in Pikeville. At least one of them dates from the 1880s.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on March 1, 2010 09:15 AM
Posted to Courts in general