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The long and winding road to Putnam's courthouse Also see New courthouse plan stalls (THE JOURNAL NEWS, May 25, 2001) • 1989 — State Office of Court Administration orders Putnam County to develop a court expansion plan. • June 1989 — County legislators review a $9.9 million plan, with three options, and are told it could be completed by 1992. • Summer 1989 — The nonprofit Fund for Modern Courts releases a report that says the County Court is crowded and inadequate. • December 1989 — The state accepts a $12.2 million plan, approved by the Legislature and submitted by County Executive Peter Alexanderson, to build a courthouse next to the county office building; officials have concerns about parking and traffic. • March 1990 — The county considers buying Carmel High School property and converting it to a courthouse. • April 1991 — The Fund for Modern Courts calls Putnam's courtrooms crowded and dangerous. • April 1992 — The county agrees to buy 43 acres from the St. James Church on Gleneida Avenue for $200,000; part of the property is for a new courthouse. • Summer 1993 — Construction on the two-story structure near the county jail is expected to cost $4 million. • May 1994 — County Executive Robert Bondi announces the building will be bigger, 40,000 square feet, and will cost up to $7 million. • May 1995 — The estimated cost of the courthouse grows to $7.7 million. • August 1995 — The Fund for Modern Courts releases another report critical of the courthouse. • September 1995 — Bondi considers plan to buy buildings on Fair Street and Gleneida Avenue, add to them, and convert the space into courtrooms and offices. • December 1995 — Officials learn the new plan would cost $5.9 million less than the St. James proposal; legislators agreed to buy the former Burchetta law office on Gleneida Avenue and a house on School Street. • April 1996 — The estimate for the project jumps to $7.8 million. • February 1998 — The Fund for Modern Courts issues another report criticizing Putnam County Court. • July 1998 — County legislators purchase land behind Putnam Motors on Gleneida Avenue for additional parking space. • November 1999 — Proposal is now for a four-story, 51,000-square-foot, free-standing building, and construction cost estimate increases to more than $12 million, the fifth plan presented. • December 1999 — Legislators approve Bondi's $15 million courthouse proposal. • May 2001 — Bondi reveals the price spiked to $20 million in November 2000, a price county officials have since negotiated down to $18 million; the courthouse is slated for completion in 2003. |
