Berks officials break ground on building touted as the future for district courts

Karen Shuey, Reading Eagle, Pa.
·3 min read

May 11—When it comes to magisterial district courtrooms in Berks County, there's really no template for the places they call home.

There are some inside the Berks County Courthouse. Others are embedded in strip malls. A couple are tucked inside office complexes or municipal buildings.

One is in a former bank, one used to be a school, and one fills a small house in a residential neighborhood.

But with a special ceremony Monday, Berks County officials hope all of that will be changing. They gathered in Exeter Township for the groundbreaking of a new, stand-alone location for the district courtroom currently presided over by Judge Sandra Fegley.

The new building is seen as the future for district courts in the county.

"It's my hope and vision that, in the future, we will continue to replicate these throughout the county," Commissioner Kevin S. Barnhardt told the small crowd gathered at the ceremony.

Barnhardt acknowledged the project has been a long time coming.

He said this will be the first district courtroom in the county to be built specifically for that purpose and will serve as a prototype for future courtrooms as existing lease agreements expire.

Commissioners Chairman Christian Y. Leinbach said the move toward building new facilities will actually save taxpayer money in the long term and provide the most efficient district courtrooms possible.

Leinbach said the concept and design of the courtroom has been a collaborative effort between the commissioners, the court administrators and the team at the Berks County Redevelopment Authority.

The commissioners will pay the redevelopment authority's nonprofit subsidiary $600,000 of the $1 million total cost to build the facility in the 6000 block of Perkiomen Avenue. That money will cover the county's lease payments for 20 years.

The subsidiary will cover the balance of the construction cost.

By doing that, the commissioners said, it will eliminate any cost of living increases that the county might see if it would continue to lease space elsewhere.

The county will also pay for utilities, trash removal, cleaning services, landscaping and some maintenance repairs.

"Most of the credit really belongs to the redevelopment authority because they have been looking at opportunities to save the county money, and this was the first time the best solution for taxpayers was building a brand new facility," Leinbach said. "And this proves that when we work together we can accomplish good things."

Commissioner Michael Rivera seconded those sentiments. He said he believes this is a prime example of how the county is exploring new opportunities that will lead to real savings down the road.

The county has hired Olsen Design Group Architects of Muhlenberg Township to design the building and DESCCO Design & Construction Inc. of Ruscombmanor Township to construct the building.

Lee Olsen, president of Olsen Design Group Architects, said Monday at the ceremony that this project is the first of what he hopes is a series of replacement facilities for all of the district courts in Berks County.

Olsen said the courtroom is expected to begin operations by the end of this year. It will serve Exeter and Lower Alsace townships as well Mount Penn and St. Lawrence.