Commissioners moving forward with plans to build new courthouse parking lot

Comanche County Commissioners are moving forward with plans to creating new parking for the Comanche County Courthouse by demolishing a nearby building.

Commissioners have signed off on a $30,000 agreement with Fox, Dreschler & Brickley Inc. to provide engineering services for lighting and to supervise construction of a new parking lot to be built on the west side of Southwest 6th Street. That project also entails demolishing a building on the corner of Southwest 6th and Southwest D Avenue, once American National Bank but now used by the county for storage and training exercises by law enforcement. The Fox, Dreschler & Brickley contract also will include oversight of the demolition of that building.

Central District Commissioner Johnny Owens said while commissioners haven’t set a specific timeline on the project, county officials want the work done as soon as possible.

That new parking lot on the courthouse’s west side will take the place of parking space the county now leases on the east side of the courthouse from Central Plaza/FISTA Innovation Park. As FISTA expands its footprint to make more room for tenants, it will need more parking and Owens said the county wants to provide its own parking space before FISTA is forced to absorb the space it now leases to the county for parking and expands parking space already put behind security fencing. The county faces additional conflict when entertainment (such as circuses) set up in the mall’s parking lot.

“We’re land-locked,” Owens said, explaining the county’s option to provide parking for employees and visitors is limited, which is why commissioners decided last year to use funding from its American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) allocation to cover the cost of razing the old bank then paving the site.

Commissioners voted in August 2023 to designate up to $900,000 in ARPA funding for that project, covering demolition of the old bank and construction of the new parking lot. But, they also said they might be able to bring the cost of construction down by tapping county crews to build the parking lot.

District 3 Commissioner Josh Powers has said the county already owns most of the equipment necessary for paving work. It is the same equipment county crews use to repair and build roads.

The county has owned the building for 20 years.