$70 million Ocean County courthouse annex authorized despite price ballooning
TOMS RIVER - A planned addition to the Ocean County Justice Complex that has ballooned in cost from $50 million to $70 million in two years will proceed over the objections of Sheriff Michael G. Mastronardy.
The county Board of Commissioners gave its unanimous consent to authorize the architect “to prepare plans and specifications associated with the design and construction of the Justice Complex addition” at a regular meeting Wednesday.
The resolution was one of 34 in a package of authorizations and decrees that make up the routine business of county government. All were voted on in a single motion and without comment from the five members on the commission.
Mastronardy, who did not attend the meeting, said later that the board had made its decision and therefore his opposition was at an end.
“That is their role,” the sheriff said.
The four-story addition — which is expected to add 124,214 square feet of floor space to the existing justice complex when it’s completed in 2025 — is to be built on what is now a parking lot between the Ocean County Jail and the campus of Toms River High School South on Hooper Avenue.
Previously: Ocean County names architect for $50M Justice Complex addition
Currently, the county government operates an assortment of rented facilities scattered throughout downtown Toms River for the state Superior Court vicinage that are expensive to lease, maintain and guard with sheriff’s officers.
A week before the county commission voted, a principal for the architectural firm of Clarke Caton Hintz of Trenton, briefed the commissioners on preliminary plans and informed them of the cost overruns which were attributed to a variety of factors.
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The architect, Michael Hanrahan, explained that the increase in costs were due to inflation, international supply chain issues and further exploration of the site area between the jail and Toms River South’s football field. The soil is bad and there is mechanical equipment and a web of utilities that have to be relocated elsewhere, he said.
“We believe the project is tracking $70 million — currently,” Hanrahan told the board during its agenda session on Feb. 9.
Previously, Mastronardy had argued that the 1980s-era criminal justice complex on Hooper Avenue is in poor condition. He had questioned the logic of adding onto the structure. In the past, the sheriff has had to contend with human waste raining down into his third floor office suite from the jail on the fourth floor.
In 2017, the sheriff evacuated his office staff to the county’s 911 operations center on Chestnut Street after an inmate above him attempted to flush a prison-issued jumpsuit down a cell toilet, causing several pipes to burst, including the main sewer line. The damage at the time was estimated to be about $100,000.
In the winter of 2018, a sprinkler pipe burst inside the complex, flooding a portion of the building which forced judges to adjourn court proceedings. On another occasion, a piece of the building’s siding broke off. In recent weeks, one of the elevators in the building has stopped working with the county government unable to make timely repairs.
Erik Larsen: 732-682-9359 or elarsen@gannettnj.com
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Ocean County NJ gives approval to $70 million courthouse annex
