KALAMAZOO, MI — County officials shoveled ceremonial scoops of dirt Wednesday to launch the construction of a new approximately $95-million justice facility to house Kalamazoo County courts and other offices.
During a keynote address during the groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday, May 26, Kalamazoo County Board of Commissioners Chair Tracy Hall said she was not too warm to the idea at first, but when she heard about the details and positive impacts of the project, she changed her mind and supported plans for the new building.
The five-story, 165,000 square-foot Justice Facility project is scheduled to be completed in 2023, according to a previous estimate given to the board.
Hall said she struggled with the idea of spending millions of dollars on the facility, while there are houseless people living in the community.
“I’ve come to terms with that part, because we have our wonder housing millage here; I feel like we’ll be able to do some good,” Hall said.
Hall said she also wants to ensure there things are done also to help people in the criminal justice system so they don’t reoffend, or even offend in the first place.
“I know, for many of you, criminal justice and criminal justice reform and being transparent in this process is important, and we are going to be doing this with our new building, specifically with the facility’s glass design, we’ll create an opportunity for the public to see justice at work,” Hall said during the speech.
aA rendering of the new Kalamazoo County downtown Justice Facility in downtown, Kalamazoo, Michigan. (Rendering provided by Kalamazoo County)
The economic impact of the building and the idea that officials were dedicated to being good stewards of the environment also helped changed her mind to support the project, she said. Previous estimates given to the board said 80-100 people would be employed on the project.
The new building will be located next to the Kalamazoo County Administration Building, along Kalamazoo Avenue, in the city’s downtown area.
Kalamazoo County Prosecutor Jeff Getting, who has offices in the current courthouse building and will have his new offices in the new building, said the current environment is unworkable and unsafe. The current courthouse was finished in the 1930s.
“We need to be able to move people within the facility safer, and we’re not able to do that at the Michigan Avenue building at all,” Getting said. “We have criminal defendants and victims, and the families of those persons, all together in the same hallway mixed in with the jurors that are hearing the cases using the same elevators and the same pathways through the building.”
Stephanie Williams, who served as a county commissioner and board chair until she left the office in 2019, said Kalamazoo County has an opportunity to make needed reforms in the criminal justice system.
“I think this is significant in a way for Kalamazoo, particularly talking about justice and justice reform, when you think about the direction of Kalamazoo County, and what we’ve done with indigent defense, what we’re doing to make sure that we can keep as many people out of the justice system,” Williams said.
“It’s kind of ironic that here we are spending this amount of money building a facility, when we don’t even have adequate homes and houses for individuals,” she said. “So it just kind of shows the two tracks of inside government versus outside reality for counties and county residents.”
Officials should focus on equity through transparency and accountability to increase the quality of life for all people in the county, she said.
“Going forward, particularly with this justice facility, knowing the mindset of judges, the prosecutor, and law enforcement about how we are trying to deliver an anti racism justice system,” Williams said. “Hopefully that gets us closer to reform.”
Her vision is of a government that works to be antiracist and makes reforms, she said, but there is still work to be done to achieve the goal.
All attendees of the ceremony were asked to complete a COVID-19 screening form before arriving on-site, available electronically. Attendees were required to socially distance and wear a face mask, per MDHHS’s Epidemic Order, according to an event announcement.
Approval for the county’s Justice Facility project came at the board’s Tuesday, April 6, meeting after officials discussed the project.
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