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Board authorizes $84,915 preliminary engineering assessment for old courthouse remodel; library option remains uncertain
Summary
The board unpaused an $84,915 preliminary engineering contract (to be covered by insurance funds) to assess options for rehabilitating the old courthouse after a fire; staff said the first floor alone would not meet current library-grant requirements and full reuse could cost far more.
The San Benito County Board of Supervisors on Jan. 27 authorized staff to resume a paused $84,915 preliminary-engineering contract to assess repair and reuse options for the old county courthouse, which was damaged by fire. The work will be paid from insurance proceeds set aside for the project and is intended to produce conceptual options, cost estimates and a path forward for reconstruction.
CEO and public works staff said the county previously paused a larger design contract because of budget constraints; an RFP produced a top-ranked firm (ABA Architects) and the $84,915 task is intended as a first step to document needs, feasible program options and likely costs for full rehab.
Staff explained that the courthouse’s bottom floor (roughly 12,000 square feet) would not meet the minimum footprint required by the library expansion grant; using both stories might produce approximately 24,000 square feet but the rough, preliminary cost estimate staff cited was in the tens of millions of dollars. That means the library expansion — as currently envisioned in grant materials — may not be an immediately feasible use without additional funding and design changes.
Board members discussed alternative uses (e.g., elections, assessor, tax collector offices), the need for a warehouse for the elections office, and whether to pursue phased expansions or exterior footprint changes to meet grant requirements. Staff said the $84,915 assessment will develop multiple conceptual options — including restoring prior departmental uses, expanding the first floor to meet library grant requirements, or other departmental relocations — and then return with cost estimates and insurance coordination.
The board approved the unpausing of the $84,915 assessment (insurance-funded) and asked staff to bring back conceptual plans, cost estimates and recommended next steps; the initial conceptual work was estimated at roughly three months.
