COURTHOUSE MAY OPEN THIS SPRING

Connecticut Judicial Branch must prepare building for incoming staff, visitors

TORRINGTON >> Every weekday, a crew of electricians, engineers and other state workers arrive at the new courthouse on Field Street to prepare its interior for the day it begins operations. The parking lots are ready, and new plantings have been installed along the roadway. But there is plenty of work to be done before it’s ready for the public and the employees now housed in the state’s vintage stone building on West Street in Litchfield and the Bantam building on Doyle Road.

In fact, it’s not expected to open before May. The Connecticut Judicial Branch took possession of the building earlier this week, according to Rhonda Stearley-Hebert, Connecticut Judicial Branch spokeswoman. She said Friday that the date for the courthouse’s inaugural day was not yet certain, and that a series of steps had to take place before the courthouse could open for business.

“(T)here is a large punch list of tasks to be completed before the building opens, and it would be too disruptive to have the courthouse open while those tasks are done,” said StearleyHebert in an email.

The work left to be done, she said, includes weatherstripping doors, adding window coverings, and putting final touches on painting projects. Field Street itself is a sea of potholes and cracked pavement.

The courthouse was previously expected to open in January and April, and local and state officials have assessed the progress of the project at various points in the past year.

The building on Field Street was previously un-

der the oversight of the Department of Administrative Services, Stearley-Hebert said Friday, and shifted into the possession of the Judicial Branch on Monday.

Moving from regional courthouses into the new space is a significant task, Tom Siconolfi, executive director of administrative services for the Connecticut Judicial branch, said in December 2016.

It is important for the courthouse to be functioning correctly once it opens for business, Siconolfi said at the time, to accommodate those who need to come to the court and prevent complications stemming from entering a new location. He also noted that the state expects to occupy the new courthouse for decades to come.

“What matters is getting it right,” said Siconolfi.

Staff from the existing courts in Bantam, Litchfield, and Torrington will also have to move into the new building before it can begin operating, StearleyHebert said.

A time where both the new courthouse and the existing ones are open is expected, she said, and the shift is planned to take place in phases over a relatively short period of time.

Construction on the $81 million courthouse project began in December 2015.

The fates of the Litchfield County Courthouse on West Street in the center of Litchfield, as well as the Bantam Courthouse, a property owned by the town of Litchfield, have not been publicly determined. In Litchfield, officials are still trying to decide what to do with the Bantam Annex, as it is known, where Litchfield has its planning and zoning and park and recreation offices, and where numerous recreation programs are held in an adjacent gym. The U.S. Post Office also has an office next to the entrance to the courthouse building in Bantam. Litchfied could sell the property or continue using it for its own community needs and services. Bantam Borough officials and residents have previously lobbied to keep it for the town.

A gallery of photos of the construction effort is available to view on The Register Citizen website.

BEN LAMBERT — THE REGISTER CITIZEN A view of the new Litchfield Judicial District Courthouse on Field Street, which is now under the control of the state’s Judicial Branch.

BEN LAMBERT — THE REGISTER CITIZEN The Litchfield Judicial District Courthouse is completed on the outside, but officials say there’s plenty of work to be done on the inside. The building, which will replace the courthouses in Litchfield and its Bantam Borough, won’t be open before May,...