The location and design of Haywood County’s courthouse speaks volumes about what we value, and moving the center of our government out of downtown to a piece of land better suited for an industrial site in a downtrodden neighborhood just makes no sense.

County commissioners need to back off the option to purchase the tract in Hazelwood. Instead, they should draw in their collective egos (which are playing too large a role in planning, constructing and paying for the “people’s building”) and do what it takes to make the downtown site work and keep the historic courthouse as the center of government and civic life for the people of Haywood County, a role it has served for several generations. The reasons to do so far outweigh any justification for moving out of downtown Waynesville.

The most compelling reason given for moving the courthouse out of the downtown area and into Hazelwood is cost. By dumping the proposed parking deck, it is said that taxpayers will save over $4 million, perhaps as much as $10 million when all said and done.

Really? The problem with those estimates is that they come from commissioners, or perhaps those selling the land, not architects or engineers. With little forethought, commissioners have decided to build next to the floodplain and beside a creek. There will need to be bridges and stream mitigation work. Oh yeah, and Richland Creek, which many have spent years cleaning to make it a model of a clean urban stream, will surely be degraded by runoff from that great big parking lot that many think is more beneficial than a parking deck. We will have to contend with whatever chemical residue is left from the tannery, and whatever may have seeped over from the Benfield site. There will have to be roads in and out, egresses and ingresses. The site preparation costs will be high.

And as much as everyone wants to rejuvenate Hazelwood, is this really the best way to do it? Will putting a justice center and courthouse in an area that really is just a bit too far to walk to from the old downtown area do anything for Hazelwood? To the contrary, many are arguing it will simply take one of the last remaining industrial sites in the Waynesville area, radically change a neighborhood that has some of the most affordable housing in town and contribute to the “sprawl” mentality that will simply encourage people to drive to work or court, drive away at lunch, drive back, and then drive away at 5 p.m.

There is no doubt that putting the justice center in Hazelwood would have some positive outcomes for the businesses in the area. But so would the construction of small, low-income houses, the development of a small retail center or industry, or any type of business. Basing this decision on the desire to help this part of town would be, to use the cliche, cutting our nose off to spite our face.

How will it affect Main Street Waynesville if the center of government moves, if the old courthouse becomes merely a large, cavernous shell housing a few office workers instead of the the center of government? It’s a chilling thought, really, that we would consider taking the heart out of a downtown area that is envied by just about any person who has seen it first-hand, by anyone who has driven through places as near as Canton where town leaders would do anything to have a business district that thrives like Waynesville.

For some misguided and incomprehensible reason, county commissioners and the county manager seem fearful of being seen as doing anything to help Main Street, as if it is a scourge on the county instead of one of its shining lights.

Over the last 20 years, there have been tens of millions of dollars invested in the Main Street area. It is helping to keep taxes down throughout the county, and the retail dollars that are returned to the county and towns through sales taxes help build schools, hire health department nurses and fund other needed county and town projects. It helps fill hotel rooms throughout the county and contributes to the success Lake Junaluska and Maggie Valley have in attracting visitors.

While many want to shun the tourist industry and bemoan its low wages, it would be safe to venture that about 100 business owners in and around downtown make better wages than are handed out at Blue Ridge Paper. The products they sell and produce and the jobs they create ripple through the economy. As industry has gone away, the area around Main Street — and now Frog Level — has helped our economy remain on relatively solid footing.

Consolidating government into this area will provide another catalyst for development that will stretch the downtown area down into Frog Level and to Branner Avenue, creating new jobs, driving up real estate prices and enlarging the county’s tax base. To chance losing what has been gained downtown is a gamble not worth taking, particularly when the best site for the justice center is next to the historic courthouse.

The process of how we got to Hazelwood has been disingenuous at best. Commissioners voted without public input or even a mention that it was on the agenda. Downtown land that had been bought and paid for — and highly touted as the best site — suddenly was abandoned.

At the same time, the much-heralded, much-defended need for seven courtrooms suddenly evaporated. Poof. Once that happened, staying downtown would have become easier. The building size is reduced. Money is saved. If we can live with five courtrooms, then the four-story courthouse that no one wanted downtown can be scaled back to three stories. The zoning problems go away. It also means square footage is reduced and the size — and cost — of the parking deck can be reduced by the corresponding reduction in building square footage.

Citizens are left to wonder just what in the commissioners planning process is sacred, what is absolutely non-negotiable. It seems there has been some bobbing and weaving by commissioners as they try to duck public criticism. Criticism and debate are good, not something to be avoided at all costs. Citizens are, at best, confused .

And here’s a reality the county seems confused about — the architects driving this plan work for the citizens of Haywood County. They will design what they are told to design. I was at the meeting where citizens and commissioners were told a three-story building would not work, where plans were described for partitioning off the Superior Courtroom we spent a couple of hundred thousand dollars protecting. All of a sudden, many citizens who were supporting the project backed off the prospect of a 64-foot building towering over everything else downtown. And what architect in his or her right mind would want to destroy that wonderful, open, sunny one-of-a-kind courtroom? It seems ludicrous that it would even be suggested. From my perspective, it seems these men don’t understand this community at all. Perhaps a Western North Carolina firm would have been a better choice. Someone needs to turn the tables on this relationship.

There are also the intangible aspects of having a center of government that beckons people to take part in civic life. That is what the downtown area — and the Superior Courtroom — does. Pick up an architectural history book and the description never varies — the American courthouse is the cathedral of American ideals, our showcase for our belief in a government of the people. Will the building in Hazelwood attract people, or it will it become simply a part of a bureaucratic burrow of offices visited only when absolutely necessary? The answer seems obvious.

Right now, our county commissioners meet in a tiny, cramped room at the same time most people are just settling in to work. Public participation in government here is OK, but imagine meetings held in that grand courtroom, with offices in back for commissioners where citizens could walk in, meet them, talk. They could post office hours and encourage people to come by. There was a time in this country when courthouses and public schools were our most magnificent edifices, and for good reason — they are the people’s buildings and they were meant to invite the public to be a part of the community. Keeping the center of government right where it is and improving it will make the economic and civic life of Haywood County better. It’s the people’s building, and they need to let commissioners know what they want.

(Scott McLeod can be reached at info@smokymountainnews.com)

 

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