Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — Introductions are in order tonight.

County officials hope residents turn out this evening to meet the people who will design the proposed justice center west of Steamboat Springs.

Representatives from the Denver-based architectural firm HLM Design are in town today to help residents envision what a completed justice center could look like.

Their visit comes after a volunteer committee tasked with making decisions about new courtrooms decided earlier this month that it was time to bring in professionals to better answer their questions.

Tonight's meeting is one in a series of forums intended to involve the public in decisions about the justice center.

Project coordinator Tim Winter said architects Russell Sedmack and Ted Halsey would bring some visual clarity to the discussion.

At the April 2 meeting, many people posed questions about the building's square-footage and amenities.

Winter said it was best to leave those inquires to the experts.

Routt County hired HLM Design to design the judicial facility.

The people who sat on the steering committee that directed the original project are acquainted with HLM Design, but residents involved in the process the second time around are unfamiliar with the architects, Winter said.

Tonight's meeting will allow people to put a face to the people who will take their ideas and put them on paper, he added.

"We've got to start moving on this," Winter said.

County Finance Director Dan Strnad will also offer some ballpark figures on the cost of building the justice center.

County Commissioner Nancy Stahoviak said Strnad has calculated rough numbers for a 40,000 square-foot facility.

"This is a very, very rough estimate," Stahoviak said. "But it gives us a place to start."

The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the commissioners' hearing room in the Routt County Courthouse Annex.