primary challenge was space. The
courthouse is situated alongside a
steep hill, so building to the west
wasn’t an option. They couldn’t add
on to the north and east without
closing off a street and losing much-
needed parking lots. That left the
area south of the building, where
the courthouse boiler room and a
nearby church and County Historical
Society Building left only a small
sliver of space. Could an addition
possibly fit in there?
Ayres’ study showed that a two-
story addition could work – and
work well. Based on the study, Ayres
Associates was then hired to design
the nearly 10,000-square-foot
addition.
While creating a second courtroom
was the primary goal, Ayres’
architects were able to assist the
County with other challenges
along the way. The architects
designed the new courtroom to
sit side-by-side with the original
first-floor courtroom, opening up
space in the new upstairs addition
for other County offices. This also
allowed them to move the County’s
undersized 911 dispatch center into
the modernized and expanded new
space.
“We definitely had a space issue for
our 911 center,” said Jackson County
Sheriff Duane Waldera. “We needed
improvements and more room for
operations. We pretty much doubled
our size, which has made it much
easier for us to provide services.”
The project also addressed a number
of security issues. Previously,
detainees from the jail passed by
state and county employees and
non-secure areas of the courthouse
as they were escorted to and from
court. This created “unnecessary
encounters between in-custody
“I was very
satisfied with
the process and
Ayres and what
they gave us for
service on this
project.”
– Duane Waldera,
Jackson County Sheriff
AyresAssociates.com
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