HUTTO — Consultants for the proposed Justice Center recently returned to the City Council with a scaleddown cost, while some on the dais are questioning whether the project can start sooner than planned.
City leaders and the Hutto Independent School District could also be closer to an agreement regarding a zoning change for a bus barn, officials said.
Meanwhile, discussions about the proposed Justice Center and potential delays dominated much of the meeting earlier this month.
In June, the consultants presented cost options ranging from $56 million to $149 million and were told to return with a lower figure, which they did Jan. 8 with new estimates of $47 million to
$57 million. During the session, the council was told the design phase could start in September, but Mayor Mike Snyder and others want to see the project get off the ground by February.
Denny Boles, president of Brinkley Sargent Wiginton Architects, gave council a timeline with construction beginning in 2028.
Snyder questioned the timing of a design phase starting in September, since the city has the fee allocated.
“We’ve already got $5 million to pay for design ... so I don’t anticipate us starting design in September,” Snyder told the consultant.
Other council members echoed a desire to see the design phase underway by next month to trim expenditures.
“If we start design now, that would be another six months of cost savings as opposed to starting in September,” Councilman Peter Gordon said.
“If we were to start today, that would save the city considerable money,” Boles agreed.
The council approved a Justice Center professional services agreement with BSW in Fiscal Year 2024, with a needs assessment and conceptual planning project completed this past October.
Part of the impetus for the center is to create more room for the Police Department.
Boles presented several choices, with many council members indicating support for larger options that would house a courtroom or future emergency-management center. The main building would have about 40,000 square feet, with an additional 11,845 square feet in storage.
Though no action was taken, the council directed staff to work on an accelerated design schedule and updated cost projections reflecting the savings from starting sooner.
Financing for the project will come from a bond election planned for this year.
City, Hutto ISD closer to collaboration
Snyder and Mayor Pro Tem Dan Thornton have been talking with the Hutto Independent School District to rework an interlocal agreement between the city and the educational system.
The agreement recently came under fire due to tensions between the city and HISD over the location of a schoolbus transportation facility.
HISD owns property on FM 685, and district officials say locating a “bus barn” there could save them hundreds of thousands of dollars each year.
Council voted 4-2 to draft a resolution against the required zoning change for the transportation facility at its Oct. 16 meeting, but Snyder said there may now be a resolution.
“I have not been supportive of their bus barn at 685 due to the current buses that cut through the Enclave at Brushy Creek, and the neighborhood asked us to restrict that,” Snyder said.
The mayor said if HISD will keep buses from using the Enclave streets to avoid the bustling 685 and Carl Stern Drive, and if the city will support issuing citations to buses traveling through the neighborhood that aren’t picking up or dropping off a student, then the Enclave homeowners association could withdraw their objection.
If that happens, Snyder indicated he will support the HISD property zoning change.
