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    Courthouse Still Planned for Downtown Park That Was Fenced Off Years Ago

    Plans are still moving forward to build a new municipal courthouse building on the site of Dorrian Commons Park on South High Street.

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    The park, which is located at the corner of East Mound Street, opened in 1976 after the ornate Franklin County Courthouse was demolished. It was fenced off and closed to the public in late 2018 “because of some maintenance and safety issues,” according to Tyler Lowry, Director of Public Affairs for the Franklin County Board of Commissioners.

    “The fountain in the park is broken and requires an expensive fix, and there is some crumbling concrete and other broken fixtures that aren’t safe,” he added. “We didn’t want to put any significant money into fixing the park up only to then sell it to the city for them to build a courthouse.”

    The parkland and the four-story James A. Karnes Building are both owned by Franklin County. The city of Columbus is in contract to buy the properties, according to city officials, and has already allocated money toward the project (from a bond package that was approved by voters in 2019).

    Kathy Owens, the city’s Director of Finance, said that negotiations are ongoing with a local architectural firm to design the new courthouse, and expects a contract to be in place in January. She couldn’t provide information on the exact square footage of the planned building, saying that the architect will conduct an assessment of the current and future space needs of the court.

    The Franklin County Municipal Court is currently housed in an 18-story building at 375 S. High St. Dedicated in 1979, county officials have said that the building is likely to be renovated for another use, although no details have been released about that project.

    Overall, the design process for the new courthouse will take about 18 months, Owens said, followed by a three-year construction timeline.

    For area residents, office workers and visitors, that means another four-plus years (at least) of fencing and construction activity at one of downtown’s busier corners.

    And, at a time when several ongoing initiatives are emphasizing downtown’s lack of greenspace and its status as the neighborhood with the lowest tree canopy coverage in the city, it will mean the loss of a 1.3-acre park that is home to dozens of mature trees.

    The county also controls two parcels nearby that are undeveloped – an empty field at the southwest corner of Main and High streets, and a parking lot on the north side of Mound Street, east of Pearl Street – which has led some to question why the new courthouse is being built on the parkland and not on one of those sites.

    “The space on Main Street is reserved for future expansion of the Common Pleas Courthouse,” said Lowry. “As for the location of the new courthouse, my understanding is that the city wants to connect it closely with the existing city/county complex on the other side of High Street, including through a large underground tunnel so that employees and visitors wouldn’t have to leave the security envelope and then reenter just to travel from building to building.”

    The county got approval from the Downtown Commission in 2021 to turn the empty field and small community garden at 50 E. Mound St. into a parking lot. At the time, county representatives said that their intention is to eventually build a parking garage on the site that would provide additional parking for the planned courthouse.

    Tony Lococo, Board President of the Downtown Residents Association of Columbus (DRAC), said that his group hasn’t been involved in discussions about the new courthouse, but isn’t necessarily opposed to building on the Dorrian Commons site.

    “For us, that area hasn’t really been at its full potential in recent years – between construction and the fencing surrounding it – so something that fits with a similar use as the buildings nearby makes sense,” he said.

    “That said, it’s more important than ever to see steps taken to grow the greenspace in our downtown neighborhood,” he added. “As residents we want others to love our backyard as much as we do and trees and parks are paramount to creating that charming, thriving place worthy of affection.”

    Lococo described the newly-approved Downtown Strategic Plan – which calls for more park space as well as greatly increasing the number of trees planted along downtown streets – and the city’s Urban Forestry Master Plan as “very promising” documents, and said that DRAC members “look forward to seeing those actualized.”

    Additional Reading:

    City and County Eying Park Land for New Courthouse Building

    Another view of Dorrian Commons, taken this fall – Photo by Brent Warren.
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    Brent Warren
    Brent Warrenhttps://columbusunderground.com/author/brent-warren
    Brent Warren is a staff reporter for Columbus Underground covering urban development, transportation, city planning, neighborhoods, and other related topics. He grew up in Grandview Heights, lives in the University District and studied City and Regional Planning at OSU.
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