Though blueprints for the new Carroll County Justice Center are yet to be finalized, the decision has been made to demolish the addition to the existing courthouse that was built in the 1950s to provide space for an open-air courtyard.

Alex Roush of Alex Roush Architects, the Atlanta-based firm hired to design the courthouse with Gardner, Spencer, Smith, Tench & Jarbeau, also of Atlanta, said the newer portion of the existing courthouse known as the annex will come down after much of the new justice center has been completed, a process in itself that won’t begin until sometime in the fall. The annex will be demolished to create a courtyard that will flank the courthouse on its left, moving away from downtown Carrollton on Newnan Street, which will also lead up to the justice center along Tanner Street.

While the demolition has been set for the later stages of construction, much of the details surrounding the justice center itself are far less clear. Roush said the design process is still several months from completion, as the firm is working with various departments that will be housed in the center to ensure their needs are met.

“We’re just now doing schematics and design development. We’re still doing the floor plans,” Roush said. “In the fairly near future we’ll be able to produce a rendering. We’re not quite at that point yet, though.”

Alan Lee, Carroll County Clerk of Court, said the architectural firm has met with his office twice to discuss preliminary plans and any changes that need to be made. After the first meeting, the office structure of the first floor from ground level - the proposed location for the clerk’s office - was modified to ensure that departmental offices and employees are clustered within close proximity to one another, making interoffice communication that much easier.

Changes such as this have ballooned what was originally anticipated to be a 40,000-square-foot addition into a project that will be much closer to 100,000 square feet, with 25,000 square feet devoted to each of the four floors of the justice center.

As it now stands, the center will house the Clerk of the Superior Court’s office, the records vaults, the Magistrate Court and Probate Court on the entry level. Below that will be inmate holding cells, secured parking for judges and additional space for records.

On the second floor above ground level will be two state courtrooms, bordered by several judges’ chambers, the solicitor’s office and above that will be three Superior Court courtrooms, additional judges’ chambers, the district attorney’s office and the grand jury room.

The current courthouse will then hold mediation proceedings and Juvenile Court on the first floor and a jury assembly and arraignment room above that.

To assure that construction runs smoothly from ground breaking to ribbon cutting, the county is in the process of hiring a project manager to act as a go-between for the county board of commissioners and all other involved parties.

Although the position won’t be filled until the June meeting of the board at the earliest, Commission Chairman Bill Chappell has said in the past that the manager will be required to take a design, bid and build approach to the project.

That means that a project manager would give input to the architect prior to completion of the blueprints, make sure the bidding process for a general contractor runs smoothly and work as a liaison between the county and the contractor throughout the building process.

Work on the justice center will begin only after a new parking garage is completed on adjacent property. Ground breaking on the garage should be within the month.