The Cumberland County Board of Commissioners on Monday will get an early glimpse of what kind of operating space the county government will need in the near future.
The county in 2021 hired Creech & Associates LLP, a Charlotte-based architectural design firm, to conduct a study determining what type and amount of space the county's governmental services departments need as it grows to serve an increasing population.
The county's Engineering and Infrastructure Department will use the Creech & Associates information to create a facilities master plan that includes the future design and construction of a general government services building. The study also will recommend renovations of other county-owned facilities. The master plan will recommend the size of the proposed new building and where it should be located.
The Engineering and Infrastructure Department is not asking the board on Monday to take action other than to provide comments and additional guidance on the draft master plan. The final plan will come before the board for an official vote in the future.
The Creech & Associates analysis looks at space usage in the Judge E. Maurice Braswell Cumberland County Courthouse on Dick Street, the “historic” Cumberland County Courthouse on Gillespie Street, the Cumberland County Headquarters Library on Maiden Lane, and an annex at 109 Bradford Ave. The master plan will recommend if offices in those buildings should relocate to the proposed new building.
In the site analysis study, researchers interviewed 27 county department heads in 11 buildings to determine space needs for the next 20 years. The Judge E. Maurice Braswell Cumberland County Courthouse consists of 212,312 square feet, and the historic courthouse consists of 43,790 square feet.
“Most of the 27 departments had space deficiencies and workflow inefficiencies due to layout,” according to preliminary findings.
Among the early recommendations are adding a sixth floor to the Maurice Braswell courthouse and allowing the county's judicial offices to occupy the entire building.
The draft site analysis study also suggested the county could build the proposed general government services building at the Crown Complex on property owned by the county or find another site near the downtown.
The meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
Jason Brady covers Cumberland County government for CityView TODAY. He can be reached at jbrady@cityviewnc.com.
