Commissioners to mull purchasing Church Street Commons

FARMINGTON – Commissioners have scheduled a workshop next week at the courthouse to discuss a facilities plan which would bring the nearby Church Street Commons in the ownership of the county.

Planners with the firm Smith Reuter Lull Architects have drawn up schematics which would provide a new home for the registry of deeds and probate court, currently based out of the Franklin County Courthouse, in the Commons building. A 10,000 square foot, three-floor complex located across Church Street from the courthouse, the commons was the former Knowlton & McLeary print shop that has since housed several businesses and organizations over the past few years.

Moving probate court and deeds across the street makes sense, according to the architects and building committee. The Commons building has reinforced floors, which was designed to hold up heavy printing equipment, and could bear the weight of the registry of deeds records. It also keeps those two departments in downtown Farmington. The Farmington Downtown Association had been concerned with preliminary proposals to move probate and deeds to a new site near the Franklin County Detention Center, feeling those often-accessed portions of the county government should remain near the downtown area.

Roughly 3,500 square feet of the 10,000 square foot building would not be initially used for county functions. That space could be leased out to private businesses to help generate income for the county, as well as providing room to expand for the future.

With probate and deeds gone, more room would be available for other county functions. Smith Reuter Lull suggested moving the District Attorney’s Office, located in the basement, to the first floor. County administration offices would remain more or less where they are.

The new plan would also call for an expansion of the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department’s office building near the jail; the so-called “white house.” That building would be expanded from 2,000 square feet to 11,400 square feet, under the plan, to make room for the sheriff’s department, dispatch center and Franklin County Emergency Management Agency. The plan also would call for a 3,000 square foot storage building, similar to a pole barn, to house evidence and equipment.

The entire project has been estimated costing the county $5.08 million. Of that, an estimated $800,000 would would be used to purchase the commons outright from current owners, Steve Braconi and Joseph Carlson. Smith Reuter Lull believes that would be cheaper than a lease agreement, due to the extensive renovations, estimated at $589,000 in cost, required within the Commons to bring it in compliance with handicap access laws, including the installation of an elevator.

The project would be paid for through a bond, possibly through the Maine Municipal Bond Bank or a United States Department of Agriculture development bond.

The commons currently pays roughly $10,000 in local taxes to the town of Farmington. Should the county gain ownership, no taxes would be paid to the town. One possibility, according to Smith Reuter Lull representatives, would be to use funding generated through leasing out the 3,500 square feet of unused space to offset that loss to the town.

This latest plan was presented to the commissioners today, having already been considered by the building committee. It represents the latest version of a two-year, developing proposal to provide county departments with more space, safer working conditions, as well as reduce the county’s maintenance expenditures on the aging courthouse systems.

Commissioners will meet with Smith Reuter Lull, the building committee and others next week. One possible outcome of that meeting could be the hiring of a commercial appraiser to inspect the Commons. Formal action on purchasing the Commons building or other longer-term moves would likely wait for the next commissioner meeting.