Hendricks County Court House or Judicial Center?

Hendricks County Court House

Second task force meeting held

Decisions are about to be made that will be noted as major events in Danville's 200-year history. Whether the Hendricks County commissioners decide to renovate a large portion of the court house square or build a judicial center at the East Campus, the future of downtown Danville will have "crossed the Rubicon," as they say.

Danville is not the only Hendricks County town to have crossed that iconic river in recent years. Brownsburg's downtown changed forever when Harley's and The Rocking Horse were replaced with pharmacies, and the new Town Hall, fondly known as the “Taj Mahal,” was built in 2005.

Plainfield razed its Town Hall and fire station and reimagined the area by building a new civic center with a first-class entertainment facility in 2023.

Not to be left behind, Avon is in the process of relocating its original Town Hall from Blue Heron Park into a new government civic building in the center of the sprawling 500-acre Easton Grey community before the end of this year.

The second and final meeting of the judicial task force was held Thursday, July 23, at the Hendricks County Government Center. The task force was composed of representatives from across the county, as well as judicial employees, elected judges, county commissioners and County Council members.

County Commissioner Dennis Dawes opened the meeting by introducing Dan Zuerner of Garmong Construction to share his opinion on where the judicial center should be located. Garmong is a large, family-owned commercial construction company based in Terre Haute. The company built the new jail and is currently building the new highway garage for Hendricks County.

"There was an awful lot of discussion last time about what happens if we lose people out of the court house in terms of economic development to the city or the town. In my view, that is a huge opportunity for the town because I think we can repurpose the court house, as we talked about a little bit, and pull some of that out of the government center that is way too crowded and still leave that downtown day element," Zuerner said.

Zuerner was referring to comments about some of the county departments currently housed in the Government Center on South Washington Street being moved back to their original home at the county court house if the courts relocate. The buildings currently housing the prosecutor's and probation offices would be vacated and could be converted into retail, office and apartment space.

"I think we can bring a 24-hour vitality to the downtown that really increases the economic growth of the town and the financial capacity of the town through an economic development project there," Zuerner added.

Another advantage of building at the East Campus is minimizing disruptions during construction. Judicial departments could continue operating normally while the East Campus is built. If the judicial center remains downtown, the entire county judicial system would have to work around the construction, which would also increase safety concerns.

Dawes read comments from a letter received by the commissioners from the Indiana Landmarks Foundation regarding the county's consideration of moving the courts.

"The Indiana Landmarks recommendation to us, the commissioners, is to maintain the integrity of the court house and, based on what they know at this point in time, their recommendation is that we strongly consider having the new courts and all of that on the East Campus, and then do whatever we're going to do to maintain the original court house and that structure, and preserve the downtown as well," Dawes said.

Town Manager Mark Morgan expressed his opinion regarding the potential economic impact of moving the courts out of downtown.

"When we look at the economic development opportunities for the Town of Danville, this goes beyond just that west side of the square. This goes a lot deeper than that because, first of all, no offense against the courts, your clientele don't visit my stores. It's just not happening."

Morgan also pointed out the property tax benefit to the town if the judicial center is built at the East Campus.

"I'd love to see those places (buildings vacated by the county) put back on our tax rolls because when you look at just the acreage alone of the town of Danville, there are probably very few communities that have the same issue that we do of so many tax-exempt properties, whether it be the hospital, the county government, churches, things like that."

County Prosecutor Loren Delp and County Council member Eric Wathen were among those who expressed hope that the judicial center would remain downtown, while most task force members appeared to favor moving it to the East Campus.

If built at the East Campus, the project timeline would include up to eight months for design, followed by about 18 months of construction. Once the judicial departments have moved out of downtown, the county would need another 18 to 24 months to renovate the court house and bring it up to code. Zuerner said the entire process would take about four years from start to finish.

Dawes concluded the meeting by saying the commissioners would meet soon to decide the future location of the Hendricks County Judicial Center.