Courthouse off drawing board?

St. Martinville — After waiting out high construction costs and exhausting title searches, Parish Government is ready to proceed with a two-stage plan to renovate the 149-year-old courthouse.

Parish President Guy Cormier said told the Parish Council last week that the architect’s plans for a courthouse annex are 98 percent complete. Bids will be accepted in February and a contract possibly awarded in March.

“A lot of contractors are interested in this project,” Cormier said.

That had not been the case until recently. The flurry of construction in the wake of the 2005 hurricanes made workers scarce and materials costly.

“Work is tapering off a little.” Cormier said. “I’ve been told this is the perfect time to hit the market.”

The parish will build a courthouse annex in the block between the existing building and the bayou, now largely used for parking. It will house the clerk of court, assessor and registrar of voters.

Once those offices are out of the venerable antebellum edifice that sits off Main Street, it will be renovated as strictly a judicial center, housing courtrooms and offices for judges and prosecutors.

The annex building had to be redesigned to accommodate one small residential lot at the corner of Berard and St. Martin streets, the southwest corner of the annex site, for which clear title could not be obtained. After an exhaustive title search, legal advisor Chester Cedars had informed the council that there were too many unopened successions and other loose ends among the many heirs to the lot.

In 2005, voters approved the rededication of revenue from a 4.5-mill property tax to finance a $7.9 million bond issue for the project. The state added $2.1 million to the fund in an effort of help the parish overcome post-hurricane construction costs.

The bond issue fund also covers design and construction of a combination Council on Aging headquarters and satellite courthouse in Breaux Bridge. The parish will seek bids for that part of the project in March, Cormier said.