WilCo officials purchase 253 acres in Georgetown for future Justice Complex

There are also several existing county buildings on SE Inner Loop, providing for more efficient government operations, Precinct 3 Commissioner Valerie Covey said at the March 24 meeting.

“[That’s] why there's so many acres there, so it can become a campus,” Covey said. “Not just for the jail and justice center, but perhaps other locations the county owns that have other county buildings on it, perhaps one day they can move here.”

Some context

Kitchell, the project manager for the county’s Justice Complex project, confirmed in a December presentation the county will need to construct a new facility due to unsuitable conditions at the current location.

The current justice center is over capacity for office space and cannot accommodate the recently added district court, according to county documents.

The county jail and sheriff’s office needs to be updated to modern standards, as well as to support future capacity increase, the documents state.

Kitchell helped identify potential project sites during the first and second phases of planning. Now that there is a confirmed site, the county hopes to open the new Justice Center complex by 2030, according to a tentative project schedule.

What’s next

The county will hold a public information session about the Justice Complex project April 21 from 5-7 p.m. at 3189 SE Inner Loop in Georgetown.