Prosecutor recommends his office be removed from Rappahannock County courthouse plans

The Rappahannock County Board of Supervisors (BOS) and the advisory courthouse Planning Oversight Committee (POC) were moving toward a consensus on concept plans for a new or expanded courthouse at a specially-called joint meeting Thursday. 

A key change would remove from the courthouse plans the office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney which is located across the street from the courthouse on Gay Street in the Town of Washington, reducing the facility footprint by some 2,200 square feet. 

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“The idea that the commonwealth has to be in the court [building] takes up a whole lot of space that could be used for the true court function,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Art Goff, a member of the POC.

 “The [current] office building across the street is perfectly adequate and there is plenty of space where a separate or add-on facility would be a lot less costly and complicated to build,” he said.

The concept plans also include space for two courtrooms, two jury deliberation rooms and a separate room where jurors would assemble prior to a trial. The offices of clerks for the General District and Circuit Court would be housed in a new facility. Options for secure parking for judges and a secure entrance to transfer prisoners into the courthouse would also be included in the plans.  

Wakefield Supervisor and BOS chair Debbie Donehey and County Administrator Garrey Curry wanted a special meeting so supervisors could hear directly from members of the POC. “A few questions came up at our December meeting about the (courthouse) program and the board decided it made sense to bring in the Planning Oversight Committee … to try and hammer out the bigger issues and decision points for the program,” said Curry.

After the county Building Committee was disbanded last year, the Planning and Oversight  Committee was formed to consider courthouse facility guidelines recommended by the Virginia Supreme Court.

In addition to Goff, members of the POC include Circuit Court Judge James Plowman, General District Court Judge Jessica Foster, Juvenile and Domestic Relations Judge Melissa Cupp, General District Court Clerk Donna Foster, Circuit Court Clerk Kaitlin Struckmann, Sheriff Connie Compton and Curry.

The supervisors directed architectural consultant Glave & Holmes to continue working on two approaches – an expansion of the current courthouse and a new stand-alone building. 

A key theme running through the meeting was balancing construction costs with the need for a modern, secure and more spacious facility that will serve the county’s needs well into the future. 

Revised concept plans could be complete and ready for review by the BOS as early as mid-January.

“In relatively short order we will get to a fork in the road and we will take one fork or the other,” said Hampton Supervisor Keir Whitson. 

Donehey said she wants to hold “town halls” around the county once the Board of Supervisors settles on a plan.

“I want to hear from our citizens and want them to know how we arrived at a plan and what it will cost,” she said.