PORT ORCHARD — Kitsap County commissioners on Monday will look at a smaller replacement for the Port Orchard courthouse. The new concept is a single building estimated at about $104 million. County staff concluded the county cannot afford the $319 million plan that came out of five years of study.
Public Works staff will present the concept from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 2, during the commissioners’ afternoon briefing. Staff are asking the board for feedback. No vote is scheduled.
From 2018 to 2023, the county completed feasibility, space-planning and schematic design work. That work produced a five-phase plan for a 226,700-square-foot courthouse and a 181,500-square-foot parking garage, with a 2025 cost estimate of $319 million. “The County is unable to financially support a $319M Courthouse,” the staff summary says.
In April, commissioners capped the project budget at $100 million. Staff said that figure represents real estate excise tax money the county has saved so far, plus debt payments it expects future excise tax revenue to cover.
The new concept starts from Option 1 in the original 2018 study. That option called for a seven-story courthouse with no basement, built after the existing courthouse is demolished. Adjusted for construction inflation, it would cost about $142.4 million today for 218,400 square feet, according to the staff summary.
Staff trimmed that option in three ways: Information Services would move to another location, the Sheriff’s Office would stay where it is, and the Bullard Building would be kept rather than demolished. Those changes shrink the building to about 160,000 square feet and bring the estimate down to $104 million, slightly above the board’s $100 million cap.
The building would have 16 courtrooms, enough for each current judge plus two more for growth. That includes 12 standard jury courtrooms, two non-jury courtrooms, one large courtroom and one secure hearing courtroom.
Staff sized the building for 20 years of growth. They project courthouse staffing will rise from 264 employees now to 332 in 2046. The biggest increase would be in public defense, which staff expect to more than double, from 29 employees to 61, to meet the Washington Supreme Court’s lower caseload limits for public defenders.
The new building would have about 77% more space than the roughly 90,000 square feet those departments now use in the courthouse. The $104 million estimate is based on $652 per square foot.
Moving Information Services elsewhere would cost an estimated $3 million to $3.7 million. Building space for the department into the new courthouse would cost about $7.8 million.
Parking would also fall short. Even with new north and south lots, staff project the campus would have 169 fewer off-street spaces than the 983 required by Port Orchard city code.
On Nov. 9, commissioners are scheduled to consider a contract with Progressive Design Build Consultants LLC. The firm would guide the county through hiring a team to design and build the project. On Dec. 3, the county plans to ask the state Department of Enterprise Services’ Project Review Committee for approval to use progressive design-build. Under that method, one team designs and builds the project under a target price, which for this project is $100 million.
Separately, commissioners approved a $2.98 million contract on Oct. 26 to replace most of the leaking roof on the existing courthouse.
Monday’s briefing is open to the public in the county’s Port Blakely Conference Room in Port Orchard and online on Zoom at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88571933395 (webinar ID 885 7193 3395). To listen by phone, dial 253-215-8782. The staff summary and presentation are posted at agendasuite.org/iip/kitsap.
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