Relocation of Catonsville District Courthouse moving forward

A $2.8 million deal between the state and Whalen Properties, a Catonsville developer, to relocate the Catonsville District Court was approved by the Board of Public Works and finalized in May, according to state officials.

The long-pending land deal, discussed since at least 2002, would move the courthouse to a site just south of the Interstate-70 overpass across North Rolling Road.

The purchase was made with $2.5 million in state funding allocated in 2007 and $350,000 in state funding allocated in 2009, and was a critical step in ensuring the area's court needs will be met in coming years, said Maryland District Court Chief Judge Ben Clyburn.

According to Michael Gaines, assistant secretary of real estate at the state's Department of General Services, which is in charge of land acquisitions, his department is currently "in the process of reviewing the site and doing preliminary studies" in preparation for building the new courthouse.

Funding for construction has not been allocated.

Gaines said the property was selected for a variety of reasons, chief among them that it meets minimum acreage requirements and is located within the 21228 ZIP code, a legal requirement for the courthouse. It was also chosen, almost by default, because multiple publicized searches for similarly sufficient 21228 property made by his department produced zero alternative proposals, Gaines said.

Clyburn said he is now involved in the "design phase," which he said was funded late in the most recent legislative session with about $1.5 million in state funding thanks to the intervention of key local legislators with sway in state budget negotiations, including state Sen. Edward Kasemeyer, chairman of the Budget and Taxation Committee; and Del. Adrienne Jones, the House speaker pro tem and a member of the Appropriations Committee.

Kasemeyer represents District 12 and Jones represents District 10, both of which include parts of Catonsville.

"The local delegation was very helpful this year," Clyburn said.

Clyburn said he will push hard in Annapolis to obtain an additional $1.5 million in the upcoming legislative session in order to complete the preliminary design phase of the project by this time next year, and then will work to get funding for construction approved.

In all, he hopes the entire project will be completed by 2015, he said.

While, with the high level of competition for capital funding at the state level that timeline is far from promised, it is the top priority of Clyburn's office, he said — even though there's a need for new courts in other parts of the state as well.

Ready to move

The move has been lauded as a necessary step by state and court officials, and followed closely by officials at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, whose campus is immediately adjacent to the courthouse on Walker Avenue and who have expressed interest in obtaining the land there for university expansion.

According to Clyburn, the current courthouse is already completely overwhelmed.

It has fewer courtrooms than judges; no office for the state's attorney; no rooms for confidential conversations between lawyers and their clients; no space for domestic violence resolutions; and no secure holding space for women facing trial, resulting in women being handcuffed to chairs in hallways, Clyburn said.

"It's borderline outrageous, in terms of the conditions in that building," Clyburn said.

With the land deal now settled, the move of the courthouse is "on track," said Clyburn: good news for UMBC officials, who have long expressed interest in the Walker Avenue property where the current courthouse sits.

"The property that the current courthouse is on is really within the footprint of our campus, so, you know, we've been watching with a lot of positive thought," said Lynne Schaefer, the university's vice president for administration and finance.

The Walker Avenue Apartment complexes for student housing are within a short block of the courthouse.

Schaefer said the university has "not taken any specific steps other than to express our interest to the state," but she looks forward to having more discussions with the state once funding for the construction of the new courthouse is allocated.

"At this point in time, there are numerous directions we could go with that property," Schaefer said.

Initially, the university would likely make use of the existing courthouse building for immediate space needs, while also considering larger-scale development of the property for residential, academic or administrative uses, Schaefer said.

Verdict not unanimous

However, not everyone is happy about the courthouse moving.

The Arbutus Business and Professional Association has long held that the departure of the courthouse from their community's backyard will hurt local businesses and undercut an economy that survives, in part, because of the legal and professional communities sustained by the courthouse.

"We remain steadfastly opposed to this project, because we believe that that courthouse is an economic growth pull for downtown Catonsville as well as downtown Arbutus, because it sustains the legal communities in those locations," said Terry Nolan, an Arbutus lawyer and the former president and current secretary of the Arbutus business group.

Walter Hollman, president of the Westview Park Improvement & Civic Association, which represents the area where the new courthouse will be located, said the courthouse has lost traction as a major concern of the group recently, but there are still concerns.

"There's always a concern about the traffic," he said.

Steve Whalen, of Whalen Properties, which owned the site at North Rolling and Johnnycake roads, said he wasn't particularly interested in selling the land at first, which is why he didn't respond to the state's first two requests for proposals.

The state then approached him directly, he said, which prompted him to respond to a third request.