Projects at county complex moving on track

LELAND—Several construction and expansion projects planned for the Brunswick County Complex in Bolivia are on track and nearing completion.

The new administration building is almost done, county manager Marty Lawing told commissioners at their three-day budget retreat last week at Magnolia Greens.

When the new administration building is complete, it will feature new commissioners chambers.

But Lawing said commissioners would soon need to decide whether to keep the current chambers in the administration building or renovate the space to make more room for offices. Lawing said the chambers could be used for other boards to meet when the new commissioners chambers were occupied. Office space is also needed in the building for the register of deeds and central permitting offices, he said.

To renovate the chambers to usable office space would cost about $200,000, Lawing said.

With construction under way for the new administration building, courthouse parking has overflowed from the parking lot onto the streets and the grass across from the courthouse, Lawing said.

But parking has been a problem, even before the administration building construction stole a large portion of parking.

“Some days the parking at the courthouse has overflowed even before the construction started,” he said. “We need the additional space there.”

Lawing proposed a new parking lot directly across from the courthouse in a wooded area where people are already parking to get the courthouse.

The lot is proposed to have 160 parking spots.

Commissioner May Moore suggested project engineers consider using pervious paving and maintaining vegetation for the proposed parking lot.

“My concern is that we set an example and try to do the right thing with stormwater,” Moore said.

Engineering director Jeff Phillips said the stormwater concerns have not yet been addressed but said there are funding options if the county pursued using islands or other low impact development mechanisms for the parking lot.

“A state grant has already been awarded to the Coastal Federation to do a project like that,” he said.

Phillips delivered updates on the cafeteria and social services building expansion.

The social services building and cafeteria expansion includes a new 60-spot parking lot between the current tax administration and engineering buildings, he said.

Phillips said the additional $300,000 for the parking lot would be added to the project total. A new dumpster location for trucks coming in and out of the bays behind the cafeteria would be safer for people at the complex, he said.

“It’s a step in the right direction with the space that we’ve got to work with,” he sad.