Many unanswered questions remain on future of proposed Portage County Justice Center

While Portage County board members continue to seek answers about a new county justice center, top city and county leaders are at odds about the best place to locate the proposed facility.

Board members will have another chance to get their questions answered during Tuesday's County Board meeting. Representatives from TEGRA, a Minnesota-based real estate consulting company, will hold a questions-and-answer presentation on the master plan for the center. TEGRA plans, negotiates and implements projects, including Target Stadium, home to the Minnesota Twins.

County residents also will have a chance to speak at Tuesday's meeting or they can call their County Board supervisor and share their opinion, Portage County Executive John Pavelski told a Stevens Point Journal reporter.

On Jan. 31, TEGRA presented two options to the board, one in downtown Stevens Point and the other in a "greenfield site" on the edge of the city. The greenfield site would be on an undeveloped piece of land to be chosen in the future. The justice center must be in the city limits, because Stevens Point is the county seat, Pavelski said. This could require the annexation of land into the city.

The schedule for the project presented at the Jan. 31 meeting shows the Portage County Board making a decision in March. However, board members did not feel comfortable they had all their questions answered at that time, Pavelski said. The current timeline is to make the decision in April or May, he said.

The two proposals both call for the justice center to be built in phases. Pavelski said it wasn't fiscally responsible for the county to spend the $260 to $270 million the complete project is expected to cost all at once. By building in phases, the initial cost would be $165 to $170 million, he said. Phase two would be built in 10 to 14 years, if the county approves the project.

"The biggest need right now is the jail and courts," Pavelski said. "We want to get that funded and on its way."

If built downtown, phase one would include a 200-bed jail and three courtrooms. Phase two would include a law enforcement center, law enforcement fleet garage and government services. If on a greenfield site, phase one would be a jail, two-story courthouse and surface parking. Phase two would depend on the site chosen.

The downtown site would require demolition of current structures and a multi-story jail.

In a letter dated Feb. 17, Stevens Point Mayor Mike Wiza said the city has offered the county options that give the county access to 14.09 acres of land within the downtown to build a county campus. The city is committed to working with Portage County on the construction of a new county campus in the city's downtown, Wiza said in the letter.

While the initial costs of building in downtown is higher, a greenfield site would not have the infrastructure already in place downtown, Wiza said in his letter. He said conversations between the city and county have included transferring ownership of the Lincoln Center and surrounding parking lots from the city to the county, and also transferring ownership of Municipal Lot 18, at the northeast corner of Arlington Place and Water Street, to the county and vacating the utilities in Arlington Place and a portion of Elk Street.

The city is willing to amend on-street parking ordinances to help create long-term employee parking and easy access for visitors to the Portage County Courthouse and office, Wiza said in his letter. The changes, along with significant parking within a few blocks of the downtown site, would eliminate the need for a $43 million parking garage as part of the master plan, Wiza said.

The city needs to be focused on the economic impacts relocating the county buildings would have on the heart of the community, Wiza said.

"While the county would be making a one-time major investment, the city has the responsibility for ongoing, long-term infrastructure obligations regarding any site," Wiza wrote in his letter. "The roadway, utilities, fire and police protection, among others, will be the sole burden of the city and are significantly higher with a facility on the greenfield location, since they currently do not exist."

There are about 25,000 to 26,000 residents in the city of Stevens Point, Pavelski said. In comparison, there are about 47,000 residents in the county who live outside the city, he said. Placing a new justice center on the edge of the city could potentially service the 47,000 people living outside the city more efficiently, Pavelski said.

Delaying making a decision on the proposed justice center location could be costly. Pavelski said every day the county delays starting a project costs about $13,000 because the costs of materials and borrowing money are continually going up.

"Indecision is costing the county a considerable amount of money," Pavelski said.

Tuesday's meeting will take place at 5 p.m. in the County Board Chambers at the Portage County Courthouse, 1516 Church St. You can watch the meeting online at Portagecountywebex.com and enter the code 962 109 161.

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Contact Karen Madden at 715-345-2245 or kmadden@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @KMadden715, Instagram @kmadden715 or Facebook at www.facebook.com/karen.madden.33.