Council Court Debate Boils Down to Location

In perhaps the City Council's most thorough public discussion of individual proposals for a new Fredericksburg court facility, debate largely centered around location and scale. In the end,

The four council members who have been most supportive of plans to build a new court facility, Mayor Thomas Tomzak, Vice-Mayor Mary Katherin Greenlaw, At-Large Councilor Kerry Devine and Ward 2 Councilor George Solley, all voted to locate the project along Princess Anne Street. The three members for whom the proposed new court facility has received the least support, Ward 3 Councilor Fred Howe, Ward 1 Councilor Brad Ellis and Ward 4 Councilor Bea Paolucci all voted for the Executive Plaza schemes along Caroline Street. 

The debate and vote took place at a 5:30 p.m. council work session prior to last night's regularly schedule City Council meeting. The meeting was noteworthy for the way in which members of the City Council had to  

Arcadis consultant Warren Walker started off the meeting by setting the parameters of the discussion, instructing City Council to focus on issues like land acquisition, project phasing, and design compatibility issues such as height, bulk and scale. 

"In my mind, as an architect…design compatibility is going to have a major impact on Fredericksburg for decades to come," said Walker. "It's a very prominent building and will impact development in the city. Our children and grandchildren will have to look at it."

Tomzak started off the discussion with a short speech noting the tough economic times which face residents of Fredericksburg. He underscored Walkers comments on the gravity of the decision before council. 

"This courthouse is a vertical responsibility," said Tomzak. "We will be reaching through time with this building."

Tomzak said that he preferred a Princess Anne Street location for a new court facility, noting that the road had become the center of Fredericksburg's municipal operations over the years. Tomzak also noted that the proposed Princess Anne Street schemes all had similar scales to buildings already in place there. 

Greenlaw agreed with the mayor and noted that situating the courthouse downtown was essential to preserving a historical connection with Fredericksburg's colonial legal history. 

"We center everything around the courts," said Greenlaw in support of locating the new court facility on Princess Anne Street. "It represents our wonderful system of law which is based on English common law." 

Devine also echoed support for a Princess Anne Street location, despite the fact that many of those schemes would split the courts among a collection of buildings. 

Solley's opening statement spoke to the debate surrounding the courts, saying that the issue of building a new court facility had been subject to rigorous public scrutiny. 

"It is time for us to move forward with the full cooperation of letting the community know what we are doing…to decide what is best for the city in terms of what we need and what we are capable of," said Solley during the work session. 

After the meeting, Solley said that his decision against reutilizing the Executive Plaza site was motivated out of a desire to avoid the mistakes of the past. 

"Anywhere in the city you go, you can see the skyline, you see a massive block, hugely tall building," said Solley. "I personally would not want to get ride of Executive Plaza only to erect a more massive, more huge building in its place."

Opening the opposition comments to the court facility was Paolucci, who stated that she believed any new court project should be located downtown. She brought up concerns that the project is too large raised during last weeks public hearing on the proposed facility.

Paolucci disagreed with members of City Council who argued that a large court structure on Caroline Street would be out of place. She argued that Caroline Street's denser development on the south end would accommodate a large court facility there. 

"The bulk is there, to me. It's always been there," said Paolucci, noting the scale of the parking garage and the downtown Marriott Hotel. "If we keep the mass there, I don't think it would have as great an effect as where if you put it down Princess Anne Street."

Howe again contended that the city was only obligated to upgrade the security accommodations at Renwick, an option which he urged the City Council to consider. 

Barring that, he stated that city leaders might as well get the most bang for their buck if they were to "bankrupt the city" by building a $30-40 million court facility. The way to get the most bang for your buck, asserted Howe, was to demolish Executive Plaza, a.k.a. Big Ugly, and build a prettier court facility in its place. 

Ellis agreed that the city does need a new court facility, but said that he was hesitant to spend so much money on a project that would generate little revenue for the city. 

"When you combine spending this amount of money with a shrinking tax base, I think it's a precarious situation," said Ellis. 

Ellis also disagreed with Solley's assertion that the public had been involved in the court facility deliberations in the five years that the issue has been a public matter. 

"I'm dismayed that we have heard from so few of the public," said Ellis. He referred to last week's public hearing on the proposed court facility, noting that only 60 people attended, and only 15 people spoke to the matter. This on top of what he described as a "handful" of comments received via the city website and email address. 

"We have had input, but very little," said Ellis. 

Ellis also supported the option to build on the site of Executive Plaza, calling in an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone, noting the City Council's objective to demolish the high rise. 

Greenlaw warned the council to not get too fixated on using the court facility as an opportunity to demolish Executive Plaza. She noted that her reading of the Arcadis report indicated that the Executive Plaza sites turned out to be less cost effective for the city over a long term. 

"Don't let the tail wag the dog on trying to get rid of Executive Plaza" said Greenlaw. "That's going to happen now or five years from now."

Following last night's City Council meeting, City Manager Beverly Cameron said that the short list still had to be winnowed down to a smaller number of proposals. Once the short list is finalized, the successful design/build teams will be invited to participate in a detailed development planning phase of the project. 

Cameron noted that the next regularly schedule meeting of the City Council isn't until June 14, saying that he would talk with the mayor about scheduling an earlier irregular session of the City Council to further debate the remaining court proposals.