County to condemn land for new courthouse
“Snohomish County pressed ahead Wednesday with plans to build a new downtown courthouse despite cost concerns and pleas from property owners who stand to be displaced.
The County Council voted 4-1 to condemn a half-dozen parcels where parts of the new courthouse would be built. That means the county can pursue eminent domain through the courts if the parties can’t agree on a sale price.
Councilman Ken Klein cast the lone dissenting vote. While they disagreed with him, colleagues said they face no easy choices.
“I was elected to make tough decisions and I think that this is a tough one for me, emotionally and otherwise,” Councilman Brian Sullivan said. “But I’m going to support the motion and I’m going to hopefully be proud of a building that will be here 100 years from now.”
The proposed $162 million justice center would mostly occupy a county-owned parking lot that sits about a block east and across Wall Street from the existing courthouse. The county paid about $1.5 million for the lot in the 1990s, intending to use it as a future courthouse location.
Following Wednesday’s vote, six businesses bordering the county lot would be subject to eminent domain: three law offices, a legal messenger service, a bail bonds business and a small, private parking lot. The parcels front Rockefeller Avenue and Wall Street.”
Haglund, Noah. Herald Business Journal 26 June 2014.