XENIA — A plan unveiled at a meeting with the Greene County Commissioners on Thursday may bring big changes to downtown Xenia and had opposing viewpoints voiced from affected officials.
A proposal was shown named the Facility Master Plan. The plan — which calls for three development areas referred to as the West Campus, Downtown Campus, and the Ledbetter Campus to be constructed — has yet to be approved.
At an open work session, appointed and elected county officials turned out to comment their disapproval to a plan that proposes renovating and building a new facility on the West Campus to serve judicial and service sector functions.
Other proposed plans include relocating all government services out of the Ledbetter site to allow for its redevelopment and constructing a new office building and a three-story parking garage with 450 parking spaces in downtown Xenia to largely service administrative and public services.
Juvenile Court Judge Amy Lewis was in attendance and spoke on behalf of other judges in attendance. Senior Common Pleas Court Judge Michael Buckwalter also addressed the Commissioners briefly with comments on the draft proposal of the Facility Master Plan.
“Four judges don’t want to move and are operating with maximum efficiency and minimum expense to the taxpayers of Greene County,” said Buckwalter. “The plan was initially to occur over the next two decades, yet in the last few weeks the implementation of the plan has been accelerated to possibly occur in as short as six years. The minimum cost of this plan is estimated at $163 million dollars. That’s Greene County taxpayers’ dollars — that in my opinion — are going to waste.
“It makes no sense to move three courthouses into one,” he added. “While the proposed courthouse is projected to cost approximately $27 million, that fails to include the necessary other buildings and costs which ultimately make up the $163 million dollar price tag. And the notion of converting the Greene County Courthouse into a museum is moronic and imbecilic.”
In April 2023, Greene County engaged Woolpert to prepare a Facility Master Plan that would provide a long-term strategic investment plan to prioritize quality public facing customer service to the community, locate county programs appropriately with consideration of community use and promotional efficiencies, and support revitalizing downtown Xenia.
Commissioners have commented that the plan calls for them to be “proactive” rather than “reactive” concerning where they felt the county should be in the next fifty years.
Tentative plans for the courthouse call for the Greene County Archives and Records Center to be moved there from its Ledbetter Road location. One or two of the original courtrooms from over a hundred years ago may remain intact so future visitors could view a historic courtroom setting, according to comments made after the meeting by attendees.
Reach Karen Rase at 937-502-4534.
