A deal to sell 4.7 acres of land to the state for expansion of the Davis Justice Complex in west Farmington was approved Monday by the Davis County Commission.
The Utah Legislature in its last session appropriated $10.4 million to build new juvenile and adult court facilities at the 4-year-old justice complex, which already houses four 2nd District courts.The county will sell the property on the south and east side of the complex for $309,000, which Commission Chairman Gayle Stevenson said is the appraised price.
The county has already stripped the sod off the parcel, transplanting it to the fairgrounds just west of the court complex.
Construction crews will begin compaction work on the ground this summer and construction work next spring.
The state plans to build new juvenile court facilities at the site, moving from the current location on the Lagoon frontage road at the U.S. 89 and I-15 interchange at Shepard Lane in Farmington.
That facility is currently handling about 6,000 juvenile cases a year, a number court officials expect to increase to around 8,000 by the year 2000. Temporary trailers have been brought in to that site and added onto the building to create extra courtroom space.
It is the second major expansion of the county's $20 million justice complex, which houses the district courtrooms, county attorney and court clerks offices, and the sheriff's department and jail, since it opened in March 1992.
The state built a 60-bed, $4 million juvenile detention center, the Farmington Bay Youth Center, on the west side of the complex and moved into it last November.
Plans for the current juvenile court building are incomplete but it may be remodeled to house the drivers' license office and Utah Highway Patrol headquarters for the county, both of which are currently housed in leased private office space in Farmington.