Board Solving Housing Woes Of New Court

The housing pnrolems of the county-financed district court moved closer to solution yesterday as a result of decisions of c o m m i 1 1 e e s of the County Board of Supervisors. Members of the special district court and the property committees of the new board decided to negotiate with the Capps Construction Co. to have it build a facility to the county's plans and ■specifications on property the firm owns immediately east of the Ypsilanti Township Hall on Ecorse Rd. This building would be to house District Judge Rodney E. Hutchinson's court. The agreement with the construction firm will provide that the county will purchase the structure as soon as it is able, leasing it until that time, with any rent applying on the purchase price. The supervisors had originally considered leasing space in the Gault Village Shopping Center when offers to build specific a 1 1 y for the court were received from the Capps firm and from a developer, Kenneth Leighton, who also has Ecorse Rd. property. Capps' original proposal set the purchase price for the building he offered at $152,000, and rent at $18,000 annually for 5,400 square feet. Parking for 60 cars is included in the plan. The building construction cost was set by the construction firm at $110,000 with $40,000 for the land. The supervisors are asking for some ehanges including a steel frame and pre-cast concrete panels for the exterior which will affect the final cost. Supr. David R. Byrd of Ann Arbor, an architect, said the cost of such a building should be $110,800 exclusive of land cost. "If the architect does his job and we handle our contracts right, bids should come in within this figure," Byrd said. Judges Hutchinson and Edward D. Deake expressed no strong preference for either the Gault Village or Ecorse Rd. sites. The committees have asked Sherman D. Capps of the construction firm to submit a letter of intent to the full board for consideration at its regular meeting Tuesday. Byrd said Capps had given a four-month construction period estímate. Hutchinson, who is sharing facilities with Deake in Ypsilanti and also sitting in Saline, is unable to hold jury trials because of his lack of space. This is not a great problem yet, however, Deake said as presiding judge of the three-man court. Deake is using the old Ypsilanti Municipal Court facility which the county has leased. The committees also received a feasibility study on remodeling the old Chelsea State Bank building which was donated to the county. Architect Linden Pettys said the building is in "fine shape," and an estímate of the cost of returning it to the condition of "a bank building in first class shape," was $90,390 including his fee.