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Silver Spring's new courthouse moves closer to construction
by Theodore Kim
Staff Writer
The Gazette
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Apr. 26, 2000
State officials have taken two giant steps closer toward breaking ground
for a new district courthouse in downtown Silver Spring, adding another
significant public works project to the region's budding urban center.
Lawmakers recently approved $1 million in the state's supplemental budget
for the preliminary design of the building, tentatively slated for
completion in 2005.
The state Board of Public Works earlier this month also approved the
acquisition of a 1.5-acre courthouse site near the intersection of Second
Avenue and Apple Avenue.
The $7.4 million site acquisition, coupled with the new design funding,
have accelerated the project's schedule by about a year, state officials
said.
The new structure will replace the aging district courthouse on Georgia
Avenue, which, with a building in Rockville, comprises State District 6.
A new court facility is also slated to be built in downtown Rockville,
although an adequate site has yet to be purchased, officials said.
Maryland Sen. Ida G. Ruben (D-Dist. 20) of Silver Spring, who was
instrumental in getting the funding approved earlier than anticipated,
argued the current Georgia Avenue courthouse is cramped and antiquated.
"[The courthouse staff] are desperately in need of an expansion," Ruben
said. "We need to move as quickly as possible to get this thing
constructed. The planning money will help."
County authorities agreed with Ruben that modern court facilities in both
Silver Spring and Rockville are long overdue.
"Anything we can do to speed up the process, we'll do it," said Sheila
Sprague, a legislative analyst in the county Department of
Intergovernmental Relations. "We're very pleased at how things have gone
so far."
About 30 employees work in the Silver Spring courthouse, which is leased,
said Jeffrey Ward, administrative clerk for District 6.
The new structure, to be built by state General Services, will be 71,000
square feet, roughly twice the size of the present building, Ward said.
It will house four large courtrooms and three hearing rooms, as well as
offices for the state Divisions of the Public Defender, Parole and
Probation, Division of Juvenile Justice and Department of General
Services, officials said. Currently, the services are scattered in
buildings throughout the area.
Last year, court officials examined a parking lot on Georgia Avenue
adjacent to the current courthouse for the new site, but abandoned it
because the property was too small.
"Finding a good site is definitely a difficult process," Ward said. "It
took a lot of time and effort to find [the new site]."
Meanwhile, state authorities were unsure how much construction of the new
courthouse would ultimately cost, since the structure has yet to be
designed.
Funding for the courthouse arrives in the midst of Silver Spring's
half-billion dollar urban revitalization, anchored by the construction of
a $150 million downtown headquarters for media firm Discovery
Communications.
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