This floorplan shows where courtrooms would be located in a new Smith County Courthouse.

Residents have the opportunity beginning Monday to decide the future of the Smith County Courthouse.

Commissioners voted in August to put a bond referendum on the November ballot that would fund a new courthouse as well as a parking structure.

The bond package totals $179 million — $160 million for new courthouse construction and $19 million for an accompanying parking structure. The estimated tax impact is about 3.67 cents, which would be an increase of about $73.40 per year on a $200,000 home.

Early voting for the November general election begins Monday, and Election Day is Nov. 8.

“The role of the commissioners court is simply to give the citizens a choice,” Smith County Judge Nathaniel Moran said. “And so our role is only procedural in nature. The choice belongs to the taxpayers because it’s their money, and they should have the final say on what happens with the courthouse project.”

If the bond referendum is approved, a new courthouse would replace the one built in 1955.

Officials have said studies have indicated the current structure has space and safety issues.

Discussions about the courthouse have been ongoing since around the late 1990s, Moran said. Each study came to the same conclusion that a new courthouse, jail, sheriff’s administration space and additional parking were needed, with the most recent study done from 2017-19.

Current Pct. 1 Commissioner and Smith County Judge-elect Neal Franklin said safety concerns were pointed out in the studies, including for judges, jurors, the public and people in custody who cross paths in the same courthouse corridors.

Moran said there was a shooting at the courthouse in 2005, which spurred more safety concerns. Options were considered, such as building a shell around the courthouse structure or adding other features, but none of those were practical solutions for the long term, officials said.

The courthouse was built to hold two courtrooms but has seven, not including the 475th District Court that begins operations in January, Franklin said.

The Tyler Area Chamber of Commerce voiced its support for a new courthouse after commissioners approved placing the bond referendum on the ballot.

“We definitely say there’s a need for it in several areas,” Chamber President Henry Bell said. “It’s totally inadequate for the number of courts and the amount of business that’s transpired at the courthouse, so we definitely needed more space … for all the different courts and the different departments that are there.”

Bell said while the current courthouse is outdated and lacks space, the main concern is safety, and a new facility would address that.

Along with improved safety, a new courthouse would “add to the overall development of downtown, which is important in many ways,” Bell said. “It’s important to have a healthy downtown in areas of tourism and economic development, and so that would just kind of put one more nice piece to the redevelopment of downtown.”

A few years ago, commissioners considered a similar bond referendum, but when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, officials decided the time wasn’t right, Franklin said.

“We’ve known we’ve needed a courthouse for many, many decades … but never have the citizens been given an opportunity to say yes or no on a particular proposal until now,” Moran said.

The economy isn’t doing well, Moran said. However, looking at interest rates during the past 40 years or so, they’re still pretty low, and the hope is to get in front of rising inflation. Two years ago, the courthouse project would have cost about $140 million compared with $179 million now — and that price will only continue to increase, he added.

“There’s never a perfect time to put a measure this large (of a project) forward, but over the past 25 years, we as a commissioners court and as a county organization have always found a reason not to give people the ability to decide for themselves, to self determine what to do with the courthouse,” Moran said.

Bell said there is always a cost attached to projects of this magnitude, which causes concern. However, the cost “is not really near as important as what’s needed.”

“I hope we can get the community to come out and support it,” Bell said. “We’re a growing, vibrant community and with the possibility of now even moving to the next level, so I’m hoping it gets good support. (The Tyler Area Chamber of Commerce) hopes it passes, and we’re gonna look up one day and we’re gonna have a whole new face of downtown.”

If the bond measure passes, it will take about six to eight months to finalize plans and designs, Moran said. The parking structure would be built first before courthouse construction begins around the end of 2023.

The courthouse would be constructed on the east side of the square.

The county already has acquired a majority of the square footage of the properties in that area, Moran said.

He said the county listened to constituents when it came to choosing the location to build on the east side of the square. That location will keep Broadway Avenue open to traffic, is a lower cost option, will prevent intrusion into businesses around the square and would allow materials to be staged further to the east and out of the way.

This location also would allow the judicial process to continue without interruption. Once completed, people working in the current courthouse could simply pick up and move operations to the new facility.

Fitzpatrick Architects has been working to design plans for a possible new courthouse, and the exterior would pay tribute to the county’s historic 1910 courthouse.

To address safety, plans for a new courthouse focused on court floors. There would be three corridors to separate the public, people in custody and the judge and staff members.

In total, a new courthouse would have three floors with 12 trial courtrooms. Nine of those courtrooms would be used initially, leaving room for growth.

If the bond referendum does not pass, Moran said, “I think there’s going to be a substantial pause.”

While the county could place another bond measure on a future ballot, no certificates of obligation could be issued for three years.

“The main thing I want people to do is to exercise their right to vote — get out there and vote,” Franklin said. “This is an important election. Every year we say this is the most important election of your life, but this is an important election, and we want everybody to get out and vote and let us know what they want.”

For more information, visit bit.ly/courthouseplans .