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County seeks input on new buildings By DANI DODGE Millions of your tax dollars are being spent on two new county buildings - you might as well have a say on how they look. Thursday is your chance. "The buildings are part of the community and we're interested in what the community has to say," said County Administrator Sue Slack. "What we want is community input so the facilities meet the needs of the neighborhoods as best as possible. "We want people to ... like the way they look." Input is being sought on exterior designs of the old Safeway Building at 1101 W. Main St. and the unbuilt juvenile center on 10th Street between King and Laurel streets. People can review the architectural drawings for the Safeway building from 9 a.m. to noon Thursday. The juvenile center design team session will continue from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The meetings will be held in Room 311 in the old county courthouse at 10 S. Oakdale. There are many more alternatives to discuss on the juvenile center because it is being built from the ground up. The Safeway building - which will house the county's parole and probation office on the first floor and elections and emergency management on the second - is already built. "We are looking at a brick facade which will be compatible with surroundings and building it out (from the current footprint)," said deputy county administrator Dave Kanner. "So instead of looking like a grocery store it will look like an office building." The county bought the Safeway building in August for $1 million. The renovation is expected to cost $3.1 million. The money is coming from the county's general fund, a rainy day fund, and money that was being saved to redo the elections department. "We are putting a new facade on it ... and landscaping," Kanner said. "Obviously, it will look a whole lot nicer than it does today." County voters approved the $16.5 million juvenile center in November to replace the aged and cramped juvenile facility at the South Gateway shopping area. So far architects have designed the inside spaces of the structure, putting the courtrooms and classrooms on the first floor, and detention and shelter beds on the second floor. "The next step is what do we make this look like?" Kanner said. "We want it to fit in with the neighborhood, but there's concrete cubes (the jail and justice buildings) across the street." "I don't think we want a concrete cube there." Kanner said that Thursday is the chance for people to get in on the ground floor of the new buildings. "This is really the meeting where we roll up our sleeves and do the conceptual work," he said. Reach reporter Dani Dodge at 776-4471, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.