The building – a 179,296-square-foot facility – would be constructed on the current Farmington site and put the courts and the county attorney under one roof, next to the sheriff’s office and county jail, according to a project information packet shared during the work session. The court space would be 140,971 square feet.

“This is the top priority in the Utah Judicial Council’s statewide facilities plan,” the information packet reads.

The packet states that the need is driven by population and deficiencies.

“Davis County is Utah’s third largest county, and its population is projected to grow another 13% by 2030,” it reads. “Court operations are currently split across three separate courthouses in Farmington, Bountiful, and Layton. All three carry security deficiencies. None meets current courthouse design standards for safety, accessibility, or capacity. Running three aging buildings costs taxpayers more to maintain, scatters services across the county, and leaves the security problems unfixed.”

The total project cost is $172.1 million, with the Davis County share being $29.2 million, according to the packet. The funding approach would be a county bond.

Court Facilities Director Chris Talbot told the Standard-Examiner the current funding approach would give the state “the opportunity to make bond payments over 20 years at a much lesser rate than asking the state to fund the entire project because the state isn’t bonding projects.” He said asking the state for the entire amount, or the state’s portion, “is a big ask.”

According to the packet, the new facility would include “12 state courtrooms plus a county justice courtroom, with 2 shelled courtrooms ready for future judgeships.”

It would also include a raised in-custody transportation corridor that connects securely to the jail.

“Davis County residents deserve courts that are secure, accessible, and close to home,” the packet states. “A single Justice Center in Farmington delivers that on less state-maintained square footage than the county has now, with $29.2 million in local funding from Davis County and a state share met through an annual appropriation over 20 to 30 years rather than one lump sum. It is the most cost-effective long-term answer for the courts, the county, and the taxpayers who pay for both.”

One concern raised during the work session was from Davis County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Arnold Butcher and was related to potential future expansion of the sheriff’s office.

“To be honest with you, and I’m just being candid from the sheriff’s office perspective, and we understand that the commission makes the final decision … this land locks the sheriff’s office to no expansion whatsoever,” Butcher said. “And the sheriff’s office is just as old as the court building. It’s older than the last four courtrooms.

“And so the original sheriff’s office needs upgrades. It’s 37 years old now. It needs some upgrades … and you can’t expand up without … demolishing half of the sheriff’s office. You’d have to relocate the sheriff’s office.”

Despite the concerns, Butcher said Davis County Sheriff Kelly Sparks is 100% on board.

“He wants to get this moving,” he said. “We know the county attorney needs a new building, and that’s the number one priority.”

He said the sheriff’s office was asking for those considerations but it didn’t want to be “a roadblock” moving forward.

“Right now, this is a schematic design and a feasibility study, so it’s a general idea of where we need to go,” Talbot told the Standard-Examiner. “There’s still a lot to be decided. The county has been great to work with. I have no doubt we can work through all these issues in the design and come up with something that works for all of us.”

Contact Standard-Examiner editor Ryan Comer at rcomer@standard.net.