Groundbreaking set April 23 for 34th District courthouse

The public is invited to a ceremonial groundbreaking for the new 34th District Courthouse at 3 p.m. Monday, April 23, at the Romulus Municipal Complex, 11131 Wayne Road, Romulus.
The two-story, 50,000-square-foot courthouse will be located just west of the current courthouse. It will continue to serve five communities – the cities of Romulus and Belleville and the townships of Huron, Sumpter and Van Buren – plus Detroit Metropolitan Airport.
The new facility will be more secure and will replace a single-story, 26,000-square-foot facility that is often overcrowded and considered inadequate to handle a caseload that surpassed 87,000 in 2017.
The new courthouse and a rebuilt Veterans Memorial to the north of the building have an anticipated completion date of August 2019.
The $17 million cost of the project will be paid for by its users, said Chief Judge Tina Brooks Green. About five years ago, the court began assessing a $20 fee per ticket toward the anticipated debt reduction on the bonds that will finance the project through the City of Romulus. There will be no cost to taxpayers unless they get cited for a ticket.
The partners on the courthouse are the 34th District Court, the City of Romulus, AUCH Construction Co. and Partners in Architecture. All three judges – Judge Green of Huron, Judge Brian Oakley of Romulus and Judge David Parrott of Van Buren – are involved in the process, along with Court Administrator and Magistrate Alan Hindman.
Romulus Mayor LeRoy D. Burcroff said the courthouse will be a beautiful addition to the community and a much-needed replacement for the current facility, which was built in 1974.
Judge Green said the new facility will be the largest public project in Romulus history. She said it will be more energy-efficient, more high-tech and more secure for the 45 employees and customers.
“We are busting at the seams,” said Judge Green, the senior judge with 24 years of experience. “We don’t have enough space. We have people in makeshift offices. We’ve turned back rooms and closets into offices over the years.”
The new courthouse will have a central lockup facility that can be accessed by all four of the planned courtrooms. Currently, some prisoners have to be escorted through the main public area, creating a security issue.
“You will know this is a courthouse,” Judge Green said. “We have tried to incorporate a judicial look and feel. We’ll be moving out of a 1970s-era facility and into something that has a lot more glass. We’re trying to do everything as green and energy-efficient as possible.”
Court Administrator Alan Hindman, who has worked at the court for 39 years, said the current facility averages 148,700 people in the building annually. He said parking will expand and lighting will be enhanced at the new court, the building will be more user-friendly and customers will have the option of paying tickets at a kiosk.
The groundbreaking comes 50 years after the start of the 34th District Court, which serves 13 police agencies: the five municipalities, the airport, the Michigan State Police, the Wayne County Sheriff’s Department, the Department of Natural Resources and the Huron-Clinton Metroparks Authority along with task forces and federal units that operate in the district. The Romulus court also handles weekend felony cases from around the region.
Robert McCraight, director of the Romulus Department of Public Services, said that to make way for the new building the existing Veterans Monument will be disassembled, refurbished and reassembled once the new courthouse is complete. The rebuilt monument will offer additional space so that the names of other veterans can be placed on the wall.
“The existing monument was built in 1991 and is in dire need of reconstruction,” McCraight said. “When the monument is reassembled, we will replace the broken blocks and granite that have succumbed to time and the elements. In addition to repairing the weathered monument, we will be adding additional wall space to accommodate our veterans.”
Judge Green said that a formal ribbon cutting will be planned when it’s time for the courthouse’s grand opening. She said the public will be invited to that as well.