The landscape north of the courthouse in Oconto continues to change. Once a residential area, the homes and buildings have been removed, and earthwork is under way for the construction of a law enforcement center.
Adams Street closed Monday between the courthouse and the site of the LEC, which will include jail housing for up to 175 inmates, a sheriff’s administration area and a 911 center.
Oconto County purchased the one-block stretch of Adams Street, from Park to Arbutus streets, from the city of Oconto for $77,500. This is the area in which the LEC and courthouse will connect; a secure corridor will be constructed for the transfer of inmates from the LEC to the courthouse. Another corridor will provide access between the two buildings for staff members and the public.
Closing the street reduced the amount of parking available near the courthouse, where limited parking already causes congestion on side streets nearby. To alleviate parking problems, a gravel parking lot with 39 parking spaces has been constructed at 111 Arbutus Ave., where the USDA building was razed this spring.
Parking also will be available at a lot to be built at Holy Trinity Catholic Church property and scheduled to open by Oct. 1. Oconto County and Holy Trinity agreed to a 50-year lease allowing the county to build a parking lot for 89 vehicles on Arbutus Avenue where a Catholic school was torn down previously.
An estimated 400 parking spaces will be available near the courthouse when all construction is done.
The groundwork for the LEC started the first week of August and has proceeded well, although rainy weather has caused delays, said Oconto County Administrative Coordinator Kevin Hamann.
Foundation work is scheduled to start this week. An Iowa firm will install a rammed aggregate system — a ground improvement process in which gravel and stone are packed with the soil — instead of steel pilings. The foundation is scheduled to take two months to complete.
“You’re not really going to see any building until November,” Hamann told county supervisors at Thursday’s board meeting.
The County Board in July approved bids for earth work, site utilities and the aggregate foundation in order to get the project started, but delayed acting on other bids.
While $23.5 million is the target budget for the center, bids came in at $25.1 million in July. Some aspects of the project were rebid because no bids were received or bids came in high.
The new set of bids will be reviewed by the County Board when it meets on Thursday.
“Everybody say a few prayers so we have nice, low bids, and we can get this in on budget,” Hamann said.
The board on Thursday also will consider designating $1.75 million of sales tax for the LEC project, bringing the total funding for the LEC to $31.75 million. The sales tax fund is projected to have a $2.5 million balance at the end of 2015.
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