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Clackamas County is advancing plans for a large new courthouse complex to be built with financial help from the state, 15 years after local voters rejected paying for it themselves.

The county is in line for state money to finance up to half of the cost of a $155 million courthouse. However, it would not be built in downtown Oregon City, where the existing one is located. The new courthouse would be constructed on a county-owned parcel off of Warner Milne Road, in an area locally known as 鈥渞ed soils,鈥� for the clay-like dirt found there.

Proponents are considering a large facility: approximately 215,000 square feet, with five stories and a secure basement. The courthouse would be able to hold 16 courtrooms, 20 judicial chambers and office space for court administration, the county District Attorney’s office, the Sheriff’s Office’s civil division and the Oregon Department of Human Services.

The current courthouse was completed in 1937, and public officials say the building is outdated, undersized for the county’s needs and vulnerable in the event of a major earthquake.

鈥淭he current location is on ground that is seismically unsafe,鈥� Presiding Judge Robert Herndon said. 鈥淭his area of downtown Oregon City is fill. A seismic review of it indicates during a seismic event this land is subject to liquefaction and will turn to mud. We’ll be in the Willamette River.鈥�

The courts are getting busier as Clackamas County has grown. Criminal cases filed by the District Attorney’s office jumped 15 percent in 2016. Earlier this year, Herndon backed a Judicial Department request for another judge in Clackamas County.

County officials have sought a new courthouse for about two decades, but funding has proved elusive. Voters decisively rejected a 2002 ballot measure that would have allowed the county to issue bonds to pay for a courthouse project. The measure failed by more than 32,000 votes.

This time, courthouse proponents plan to avoid the ballot box. Money would instead come from the Legislature’s dedicated courthouse construction fund.

SERA Architects is designing the courthouse, with associate principal Rebecca Epstein leading the project. The Portland firm has worked on the county’s campus master plan since 1998, and on courthouse design since 2014.

鈥淚t is an exciting project for Clackamas and聽SERA聽as it will sit in the heart of the campus and improve the court’s ability to provide services,鈥� Epstein stated in an email message.

If a new courthouse is constructed, the existing building could be a candidate for adaptive reuse, local officials said. Downtown Oregon City has seen substantial redevelopment in recent years, and the property is likely to interest developers.

鈥淥regon City, it’s really changed,鈥� Herndon said. 鈥淚 think the (existing) courthouse is more of an impediment to further development downtown. There are a lot of restaurants and other businesses down here that have opened up. They don’t need a courthouse 鈥� we kill the parking.鈥�

Oregon City’s downtown would benefit from the move, Mayor Dan Holladay said.

鈥淭wenty years ago, it was not a good time,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut today, given the major transitions that have happened in downtown Oregon City over the last 10 or 15 years, the loss of the courthouse staff in downtown Oregon City is not necessarily a bad thing.鈥�

鈥淥n the whole of it, I think moving the courthouse to the hill is a good thing,鈥� he said.

Carol Pauli, president of the Downtown Oregon City Association, said she hopes the courthouse building can gain another use.

鈥淚t’s an important part of our heritage and our identity as a city, being the county seat,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hose blocks have been the center of revitalization. The courthouse could be part of the momentum of the revitalization.鈥�

Funding depends on disbursements from the state’s courthouse capital construction improvement fund that is controlled by the Legislature. Multnomah County was the first local government to take advantage of the fund, which was created in 2013, said Phil Lemman, spokesman for the Oregon Judicial Department.

Jefferson County has also used it, and Lane County is next in line for courthouse funding. Clackamas County would follow.

Clackamas County has already been reimbursed $1.25 million from the fund for courthouse planning. The project stands to get more funding in 2019, followed by a 鈥渂ig ask鈥� 鈥� a payment of about $77 million 鈥� in 2021, Herndon said.

The state money can be used for up to 50 percent of court-related construction costs. It also incentivizes counties to provide office space for state agencies. That’s why a small Department of Human Services office is planned as part of the court complex.

Holladay cautioned the new courthouse isn’t a done deal yet.

鈥淚’ve been in government long enough to know if you start things, it doesn’t always happen,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd if it does, it takes twice as long as you thought.鈥�