Some of the project highlighted on Wiley-Wilson’s website, clockwise from top left: Clayton County, Ga., multi-purpose building; Montgomery County, Va., Sheriff’s Office; Lancaster County, Va., Judicial Center

Some of the project highlighted on Wiley-Wilson’s website, clockwise from top left: Clayton County, Ga., multi-purpose building; Montgomery County, Va., Sheriff’s Office; Lancaster County, Va., Judicial Center

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Congratulations on finding the one subject to succeed in uniting our fractured community. It isn’t easy in this time of division and distrust, but between your irresponsible reporting in the Rappahannock News two weeks ago, and the presentation of the Wiley-Wilson consultants at last week’s Board of Supervisors meeting, everyone I’ve talked to during the past week and a half has been unanimous in their ire, outrage, and just plain disbelief at the plans unveiled for our County Courthouse. 

I was very pleased at the BOS meeting to hear Supervisor Smith state unequivocally that the Buildings Committee, and the BOS itself, has no intention of tearing down our current courthouse building, contrary to what was stated in this newspaper. She was eloquent and moving in describing what that building means to her family and to the wider community. She is absolutely correct. I’m glad to see that this paper had gotten things wrong on that account.

But my relief in hearing this at last week’s BOS meeting was short-lived. For not ten minutes after (deservedly) praising the Buildings Committee for all their hard work in investigating the state of our government campus, we were treated to a presentation by the hired consultants Wiley-Wilson, as to how our new courthouse campus could look in the future.   

Words cannot describe how the presentation made me and others in the audience feel. In fact, I made a right horse’s ass of myself afterwards during the public hearing portion of the meeting. I lashed out in incoherent anger after that presentation because words failed me. I owe an apology to the Supervisors, County Executive, and Buildings Committee members who put up with my tirade. 

Now that I’ve had time to collect myself and put pen to paper, I hope I can convey exactly what caused my outburst. 

First of all, it appears that the Buildings Committee did a great job. Kudos to them. I know it cannot have been an easy task. They looked at all the parameters, talked to all the stakeholders (but left out one major one – us!), looked at the limitations of the site and, with the help of their consultants, came up with a viable plan that works functionally. Unfortunately it’s a plan that doesn’t work aesthetically. It is, to quote my 84 year old neighbor, who was born and raised here, “ugly as sin.”

I could not agree more. From my point of view, it was an attempt to fulfill the entire Christmas wish list of the judges, the Commonwealth Attorney, and County workers, and then some, and somehow tie it up in a barn of a building. As an afterthought, perhaps in recognition of what an eyesore they’ve created, they tried to gussy it up with a column here or a half-round window there in the lamest attempt to give it some “historical” elements.  

I think the Buildings Committee was misled by Wiley-Wilson, because any Rappahannocker who’s been in the County for more than 5 minutes should have realized that the design is pretty much the antithesis of everything we’re about. However, it’d fit in beautifully between the nail salon and Arby’s at Clevenger’s Corner.

I think everyone agrees that our current building stock and disbursal of government offices in various rented buildings is not a viable long-term solution. I totally get it that County officials want a nice office and nice working environment. And hell, they actually deserve it. Also, although we will all grumble at the cost of this project (and rightly so, since we’re footing the bill), I don’t think any of us will regret spending the money if it is done right, is appropriate, and provides a lasting legacy to our community. 

The trouble is, it looks as though it was not “done right” but rather done according to an uncaring pay-us-our-consultancy-fee-and-we’re-on-to-the-next-project, firm that has laid waste to other jurisdictions in the Commonwealth. Take a look at some public buildings they’re proud to put their name to:

I’m hoping the Buildings Committee will take this opportunity to listen to the community, fire their consultants, and hire someone else who will keep the needs and desires of the citizens of this county first and foremost in their decision-making process. I think everyone needs to keep in mind 3 very big points:

1. Legacy/History: We, the citizenry, are the living repository of our local history.  We have a duty to our ancestors and our progeny to get this right and create a lasting public building that people will be proud to call “ours” for generations to come.  Thanks to good luck and forward-looking planning in the past, we still can see outlines of history in our local landscape, our local village structures, and the fact that we still have local families who have been here for centuries. Not a lot of other places in America can make that claim. Our courthouse is part of that history and has some unique features and some grand historic associations. It should be treasured and preserved.  It should not be sidelined by some craptastic additions or neighboring hulks that diminish its character and integrity. We need something that will serve the purposes of our judicial system, and our local (small) County government that works with our history. That doesn’t mean it has to be a slavish reproduction of some specific era of our history. Nor does it mean either that it can safely depart from the architectural legacy of our town and villages and plunk a modernist box in our midst. But frankly, either of those alternatives would be a step up from the suburban anodyne box of nothingness served up as our current proposal. 

2. Size/Scale/Appropriateness: We are ONLY 7,000 people! We have been declining in population since 1873. It should be obvious to any idiotic outside consultant that we’re small, we’re going to stay small, and probably get even smaller still. It doesn’t matter that the local judiciary “want” certain things, or that guidelines “suggest” certain things! Those things are for counties 10, 20, or 100 times larger than us!  We are such small potatoes. Not only are we small, we’re old! Our median age is 50 – one of the oldest in the Commonwealth. Even a first year student of criminology knows that crimes are committed overwhelmingly by young males. Our entire male population between 15 and 30 is approximately 450 people. Now, not all of these young men are knuckleheads that are going to run afoul of the law. If you take national averages, it is suggested that 1/3 of this demographic will have an ‘encounter’ with the judiciary. That’s 150 people over the course of their lives from age 15 to 30. I’d wager that our young people are more law-abiding than the national average, but still. Do we really need such a large courthouse with a large courtroom and all the accoutrement that is being forced upon us? I say not. It is overkill and preparing for future growth that will never come. As far as I know, the gangs of Flint Hill are not warring with the gangs of Sperryville to create mayhem in our community.  

3. Aesthetics: One thing that was glaringly apparent at first glance with this plan is that it did NOT fit in with the fabric of the town. Plunked down on the site with all the grace of a fast food driveway leading up to the doorway, this building is everything this community is not, and everything the soulless suburban wasteland attitude of the consultancy is.

Why isn’t there a single local architect on the Buildings Committee? It seems to me that too much time was spent in bowing to the horror stories (according to our Commonwealth’s Attorney we can’t suffer “murderers and their entourages” to use the same staircase as the innocent gawking public coming to attend trials), instead of using common sense.  What’s wrong with one staircase? Can’t you just escort the dangerous criminals separately, ahead of the crowds? I mean, they’re all going to wind up in the same room anyway.

This cynical attempt to “scare the rubes” into accepting the plan by presenting it all as “must haves” rather than the empire building wishes of the local government and judiciary is the thing that most bothers me. Now, there’s nothing wrong with giving our hardworking attorneys, judges, and government officials a nice place to work. I’m all for it! But let’s make it size-appropriate and with taste and sensitivity to the surrounding historic campus, the town itself, and our community as a whole. How can Albemarle County do that with its county courthouse renovation and we can’t? 

My objections are not financial. I know that something like this will cost a lot. But we have a solid and thoughtful Board of Supervisors who are not going to ‘waste’ our money. Again, Christine Smith was a voice of reason as she recited the fact that the County was paying off the last of its debt. There was a hint of pride in voice because she knows that they manage our money quite carefully. We should applaud them in the way they handle the County’s business. They’re not spendthrift.  

Though, as an aside, I’m still scratching my head that we now need, what, 4, 5, or is it 6 people? to do the job that John McCarthy did with assistance from Candy in a tiny little cabin. Especially now that the county’s business should be even more streamlined with digital records and everything online, I’m not sure why we need all this new space and new offices and new holding cells, judges chambers, etc. 

But supposing we do, and supposing that we are willing to pay for it all…Why should we then have to live with something that turns us into just another humdrum ugly plastic-fantastic by-pass on the interstate?

I urge the Buildings Committee to go back to the drawing board. Work with preservation architects and REAL architects who have done similar projects elsewhere with sensitivity and taste. The quickest of Google searches pulls up several outstanding courthouse updates here in Virginia that were done. I urge the Buildings Committee to travel to those places and see what they have done. They’ve honored their past and not cheapened it with inappropriate shlock.  There is a huge group of local citizens (judging from my voicemail and email inbox this past week) who would be happy to participate as well.

Our courthouse is nearing its 200th birthday. It has been a source of pride in our community for nearly 200 years. Look at the drawings of the proposed new courthouse and ask yourself one question — will it be as treasured 200 years from now? I think we all know the answer to that one.

The writer lives in Amissville

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