The renovation of Haywood County’s historic courthouse will create a park-like setting around the building, including a small amphitheater and courtyard.

Haywood County commissioners discussed plans for the historic courthouse renovation at a work session on Monday (Sept. 19). The front of the courthouse, complete with stately maple trees, will not be altered.

The side facing the new justice center will become home to a small amphitheater, according to the plans.

The area behind the courthouse — which now is a driveway and parking area — will get a complete overhaul. The small parking lot is wedged between the historic courthouse and a smaller county office building that was tacked on years ago as an annex. An enclosed overhead walkway — akin to a large, boxed-in bridge — connects the courthouse to the annex.

Plans call for all the asphalt to be torn up and the overhead walkway to be torn down. A courtyard will be created with a new entrance the courthouse.

“There would essentially be a new front door on the back of the building,” said Chad Roberson, an architect with PBC+L from Asheville.

A walkway will lead from the parking deck to the new courtyard and entrance. Currently, parking deck patrons have to walk around to the courthouse to the front door. The new entrance at the back of the building will also be accessible to those approaching from Depot Street, who also have to walk past the back of the building and around to the front door.

A couple of county employees were concerned about how trucks would manage to bring in deliveries without the driveway at the back of the building. Roberson said decorative pavers sturdy enough for trucks to drive on could be used for the courtyard, creating a driveway that did not look like a driveway.

Three years ago, the public also was told that the parking deck would not look like a parking deck, but that was a different architectural firm, not Roberson.

“It won’t be a delivery-looking place like you have now. It won’t be,” said Commissioner Mary Ann Enloe.

“We can’t let that drive the entire way it looks in the back,” Commissioner Chairman Mark Swanger said.

Swanger said convenience for the public will be the driving force in the renovation decisions.

Roberson waited until the end of the workshop to give commissioners the bad news. The courthouse needs an elevator to meet state codes and there’s no good place inside the building to put one. Roberson suggested building a column on the outside of the courthouse to house an elevator and stairs. Roberson wants to put it at the back alongside the new courtyard where it could double as the new entrance for the back of the building.

He warned commissioners not to panic when he showed them a drawing of the courthouse depicting the big staircase and elevator column hanging off the back of the courthouse. He showed them samples of stone that he found to match the existing courthouse stone.

Commissioners are considering placing a public restroom on the ground floor of the elevator addition.