CLARKESVILLE — About three dozen people turned out for a town hall meeting in Clarkesville Monday night to discuss the future of the former Habersham County Courthouse.
The building, currently serving as the Habersham County Administration Building, is located on the Clarkesville Square and was built in 1964 by Harper Builders Inc.
A needs assessment conducted by Precision Planning Inc. and presented by Paul Hoover Monday night included five possible options:
♦ Conduct a major renovation of the existing administration building on the current site at a probable cost of $7,046,775, including more than $6.58 million in required building improvements to address code and other mechanical, structural and safety issues.
♦ Construct a new building adjacent to the new courthouse at a cost of $5,972,500.
♦ Construct a new building at 4306 Toccoa Highway, on former Georgia Department of Transportation property located adjacent to Paul Franklin Road and across the highway from the county's youth soccer fields. Building there would cost an estimated $6,020,000.
♦ Demolish the current administration building and rebuild on that site on the Clarkesville Square would cost roughly $6,852,250.
All four of those options would occur on land currently owned by the county.
A fifth option is construction of a new facility on Jacob's Way adjacent to the Ruby Fulbright Aquatic Center off Toccoa Highway at a cost of $5,676,500 plus the $130,000 land purchase price. That construction estimate would be adjusted upward if the site is connected to Clarkesville sewer service, or would be adjusted downward if an on-site septic system is utilized in the short term. That property is currently under contract by the county.
Cost estimates are based on a 28,000-square-foot building, with 24,000 square feet of immediate program space.
County officials said their goal is to get as many county services as possible on the same campus to better serve the taxpayers in the county.
The building would include the county commission office and associated offices of county manager, county clerk, personnel and finance offices; business licenses, planning and development, building permits, code enforcement, tax assessors, tax commissioner (ideally with a drive-up window), and elections and voter registration.
Construction would be financed with $1.5 million from Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax 5, and likely a bank loan backed by a single-purpose bond, said County Manager Phil Sutton.
Looking at the current building's history
The former courthouse was renovated by C.D. Graves General Contractor in 1983 to include the bell tower/elevator addition.
The facility again was remodeled by Bowen & Watson in 1998, using about $3 million in 1-cent Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax approved by the county's voters in November 1992.
The building served as the county's courthouse and jail from the time it was built until the current jail opened in 1996, then served as the courthouse until the new one on Llewellyn Street opened in 2013.
Watch for an upcoming story discussing the questions raised by the public and answers provided thus far by commissioners and county staff.
