A PROPOSAL TO consolidate three Carroll County courts into one new building is one of several plans in the works to relocate NH courthouses.

The plan in Carroll County is to build a new court facility in Ossipee, across from the county administration building that currently houses the probate and district courts. The new building would house the Carroll County Superior and Probate courts and Southern Carroll County District Court, and would be located on land donated by the county. The approximately $5.2 million project was included in this year’s budget proposal presented to the Legislature by Gov. Jeanne Shaheen and has not yet been approved. Legislative committees are currently looking at this and other court proposals.

According to Peter Goodwin, administrator of the Bureau of Court Facilities, the proposal to consolidate the Carroll County courts is the result of shortfalls in current court facilities. The Superior Court, for example, requires costly renovations to bring it into compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) and safety codes for court security. "We’re being pushed hard by ADA requirements and we don’t measure up in that respect," said Goodwin.

Goodwin said that the district and probate courts lease space in the county administration building, but it is an inadequate facility. There is insufficient room in that building for court offices, so the district court clerk’s office is located about a half-mile away, forcing the clerk to pack up all necessary materials to take to and from court. Southern Carroll County District Court serves the towns of Brookfield, Effingham, Freedom, Moultonboro, Ossipee, Sanbornville, Sandwich, Tamworth, Tuftonboro, Wakefield and Wolfeboro.

According to Goodwin, if the proposal is approved this budget season, construction will begin "as soon as possible," potentially late fall or next spring.

Goodwin said that the Carroll County proposal is typical of a movement to consolidate courts across the state, thereby sharing resources and reducing costs.

In Dover, a plan to consolidate the Dover, Durham and Somersworth district courts in one new court building is under way. All three courts were formerly located in small, leased facilities, which also had problems with ADA compliance and parking.

The new district court will be located in Dover on land donated by the city. Approved in a prior legislative capital budget, construction is expected to begin mid-summer and be completed within a year, Goodwin said.

The consolidation of Hampton and Exeter district courts in one new court building, like the Carroll County project, is up for legislative approval as part of Gov. Shaheen’s budget. The 10-year-old Hampton District Court building, owned by the town of Hampton, has "many deficiencies" that the town can’t afford to fix, said Goodwin. The state determined that it would be more cost-effective to combine Hampton and Exeter district courts in one new building than to make repairs to the old Hampton building.

According to Goodwin, the Bureau of Court Facilities is economizing by using the same floor plan for many of the new courts. The plan was first used to build the new Plymouth District Court. The design is a two-story, self-contained facility with about 17,000 square feet of space and a price tag of about $3 million, Goodwin said. The floor plan will be used for the new Hampton and Dover courthouses and for the proposed new Jaffrey/Peterborough District Court.

Proposed repairs to two courts are also being reviewed by legislative committees. An overhaul of the heating/ventilation/air conditioning (HVAC) systems of the Hillsborough County Superior Court – North in Manchester and Nashua District Court—both buildings that are owned by the state—and roof replacement and parking lot improvement to Nashua District Court are up for budget approval. According to Goodwin, the HVAC systems in the two buildings are "old, inefficient and expensive to operate." He added that he has heard positive reaction to the court proposals in this year’s budget during review by legislative committees.

Other court facility improvements are not part of the governor’s budget plan. The Milford District Court is in search of a temporary court facility because its lease will soon expire and its landlord has asked that the court move out of its current location, in the Meeting Place shopping plaza in Amherst. The court has been in the Amherst location for about 12 years, according to Lynn Lavigne, clerk of Milford District Court. The court has until June 30 to find a new home.

Milford District Court serves Amherst, Brookline, Lyndeborough, Mason, Milford, Mont Vernon and Wilton.

According to Goodwin, court officials are in the process of reviewing three spaces in Milford to potentially lease for the district court. A space will likely have to be retrofitted to create a temporary district court that will serve the district for the next three to five years, Goodwin said. Officials are also searching for a permanent home for Milford District Court, either land in Milford on which to build a new court facility or an existing building that can be renovated into a courthouse.

"We just found out about the lease situation about a month ago, so we’re scrambling around to resolve the situation. We’re in the infant stages of negotiating anything right now," said Goodwin.

Ready to break ground

Jaffrey/Peterborough District Court is expected to have a new home within a year. The court’s former Jaffrey facility was "inadequate" in terms of ADA, fire and security compliance, according to Goodwin, so about three years ago plans began to surface to build a new courthouse. A proposal has since been approved by the state and county, and Cheshire County is in the process of bonding the nearly $3 million project. The lease/purchase bond will be repaid to the county by the state over a 20-year period, the state will then become the building owner.

Jaffrey/Peterborough District Court has been housed for nearly 14 years in a cinderblock factory building in Jaffrey, in what used to be the factory’s offices. The courtroom is the former factory cafeteria. According to Danielle Bosse, clerk of the court, when the district court moved to the building in 1987 "it was supposed to be temporary quarters for a year or so…we’re still here."

Bosse described the court’s current home as a "very poor facility." She said that the walls do not go up to the ceiling, so noise often disrupts the courtroom and offices. The bathroom facilities—shared by staff and public—are substandard, Bosse said, as is the building’s heating and ventilation system.

Jaffrey/Peterborough District Court serves the towns of Dublin, Fitzwilliam, Greenville, Greenfield, Hancock, Jaffrey, New Ipswich, Peterborough, Rindge, Sharon, Temple and Troy.

Goodwin expects that Cheshire County will obtain the bond for the new Jaffrey/Peterborough District Court, which will remain in Jaffrey, within the next month and will break ground on the project in April. He expects construction to be complete in about a year.

"We’re looking forward to it, if it does happen," said Bosse. "We hope we can finally get into a facility comparable to other courts and that looks like a court instead of a factory," she said.

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