Two of Clark County’s legal departments are set to move across downtown Vancouver once the lease for the current building expires next year.
The Clark County Council voted unanimously to approve the relocation of the county’s family law annex and children’s justice center from its current location at 601 W. Evergreen Blvd. to the former Vancouver City Hall building at 210 E. 13th St. The departments need to relocate since the lease for the current location is set to expire on May 31, 2024.
Relocation to the old city hall building was the most-preferred option from both departments, Michelle Schuster, the interim facilities manager for the county, told the council.
The relocation is a change from what was originally planned last year. At that time, the departments were set to move to the county’s Public Service Center building at 1300 Franklin St. They would have occupied two of the building’s floors.
The original relocation plan would have provided the departments with the same amount of space they currently have, Schuster said.
“At their current location, they are running out of room, and they do need more,” Schuster said. The move to the former city hall will provide that, particularly for the family law annex, since the new space will allow for more courtroom space.
Schuster said there are other county departments and external groups that were interested in the space at the Public Service Center.
Regardless of which path the relocation took, the move will still carry heftier rent costs. The county currently pays just more than $500,000 annually at its existing location. A relocation to the Public Service Center was estimated to cost about $793,000 for the first year, and the move to the old city hall will be slightly more than $1 million for the first year, Schuster said.
In the event the departments cannot move out in time, the property owners have agreed to provide a short-term lease to allow for that transition, Schuster said.
Councilor Glen Yung said he is typically in favor of buying property rather than leasing it, but given the time constraints on the expiring lease, he noted the move to East 13th Street makes sense.
“It’s probably not perfect, but it has a lot of support from the community,” Yung said.
The cost of the move has already been approved by the county council. In November, the council approved the use of $15.7 million of American Rescue Plan Act funds for the relocation.
