Courthouse is reopening in small steps after Harvey
Misdemeanor courts will convene in Harris County’s criminal courthouse downtown, almost 21 months after flooding from Hurricane Harvey made most of the building uninhabitable.
The change will put the majority of the top 11 floors in use, consequently filtering more people through the already clogged skyscraper.
“Clearly, the entire facility is not back to 100 percent like it used to be,” said Joe Castillo, chief of planning and delivery for the county engineer. “We’ve made some concessions to allow some of these courts to come in and operate on what I would call a temporary basis.”
The 16 Harris County Criminal Courts at Law will be held in temporarily assigned courtrooms between the 10th and 15th floors and will maintain staggered dockets, according to court management. After Harvey hit in August 2017, most operations for the misdemeanor courts were moved to the Family Law Center, although people in custody since the hurricane remained in the criminal courthouse for their dockets.
The changes took place May 20, creating a notable difference for some.
Lines are long to the courthouse because several elevators to the upper floors are not operating, and lobby waiting space is limited with the sheer amount of people that visit the courts every day, said Doug Murphy, president of the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association. Security lines are additionally troublesome, he said.
“The building didn’t work before the flood for similar reasons,” he said.
The 20-story courthouse has been largely unoccupied since the storm. Flood damage at the building, 1201 Franklin, forced the relocation of hundreds of attorneys and staffers to buildings across the city. Dozens of courts moved to other buildings, essentially doubling up with courts that weren’t damaged and congesting docket schedules.
Officials have said that the underground flood doors for the courthouse and the underground Jury Assembly Building held during Harvey, but large amounts of standing water seeped into the underground walls.
The highest floors of the courthouse became inundated when water in the basement shorted out electronics controlling the building’s gauges. The pumping system sent massive amounts of water through the building, bursting water pipes on most floors.
Several of the top floors had already been repaired and reopened, making room for state district judges to share the courtrooms for daily docket calls on a rotating basis.
But the additional misdemeanor courts in the building mean that space is more limited, Murphy said, adding that several lawyers are concerned about the crowded lobby creating a safety hazard. Stairwells aren’t always accessible from each floor, which Castillo said is because of security reasons and within fire code.
So far, the building seems to look like more of the same, Murphy said.
“Why are they moving us back in the building if they haven’t done anything?” he asked.
The county recently approved repair work on the elevators and on floors two through 20, and officials are moving forward with design plans for an $86 million building restoration project, Castillo said. The project would expand the lobby areas, add elevators and move critical building machinery out of the basement, officials have said.
Courtrooms that are currently being used are in parts of the building that weren’t as affected by the flood, Castillo said.
“The concern continues to be there,” he said. “With some limited resources of the building, such as elevators, we had to go at this a little strategically. It’s still very much an ongoing construction scene.”