Commissioners divided 3-2 over buying property for parking
Alamance County’s commissioners have narrowly approved a land purchase to provide parking for the local court system in spite of their qualms over a $37 million courthouse expansion that has been the driving force behind this scramble for additional parking.
A majority of the county’s governing board ultimately looked past these misgivings on Monday and agreed to acquire a home at 301 West Pine Street that abuts a judicial complex in Graham dominated by the Judge J.B. Allen, Jr. Court House and an existing parking lot.
The commissioners ultimately approved this purchase by a margin of 3-to-2 at the behest of assistant county manager Brian Baker, who has been the county’s point person on the Allen Court House’s proposed expansion. Baker insisted that this dwelling’s .36-acre grounds could restore some of parking space consumed by this $37 million endeavor, which the commissioners agreed to pursue in the summer of 2024. He nevertheless assured the commissioners that this real estate purchase would be in the county’s best interest even if the courthouse expansion wasn’t in the cards.
“This is something that we’ve had our eyes on this property for some time. Court parking is very tight on some days. . . and it is my opinion that we need this property regardless of whether we proceed with the courthouse expansion.”
– Assistant county manager Brian Baker
“This is something that we’ve had our eyes on this property for some time,” Baker argued before Monday’s vote. “Court parking is very tight on some days. . . and it is my opinion that we need this property regardless of whether we proceed with the courthouse expansion.”
Baker went on to note that the lot in question has been effectively landlocked by county-owned property ever since the county bought an adjacent home at 305 West Pine Street that it eventually demolished with the long-term objective of developing more parking.
The assistant county manager added that, for many years, the elderly resident at 301 West Pine Street had resisted the county’s overtures to sell her domicile as well. Her recent death has brought her heirs to the negotiating table, however, and they’ve since agreed to part with the home for its assessed tax value of $183,875.
The purchase of this residential parcel seemed like a no-brainer to commissioner John Paisley, Jr., as well as Steve Carter, the vice chairman of Alamance County’s commissioners.
“In the last couple of years, we’ve been encouraging county management to look at acquiring more land west of the courthouse,” the board’s vice chairman declared. “If and when we proceed [with the courthouse expansion], we’ll need more room for parking.”
This deal nevertheless proved a harder sell with commissioner Ed Priola, who has raised questions about the courthouse expansion ever since he joined the county’s governing board in the fall of 2024.
Before Monday’s vote, Priola reminded Baker that it has only been recently that the county’s administrators have provided the commissioners with detailed plans for this eight-figure venture.
Putting the meal ahead of the menu
“Fourteen months it took us to get the schematic, and that’s kind of putting the meal ahead of the menu. . . We don’t have an integrated plan for the parking. . . I think we ought to reevaluate the whole project and figure out what we need for parking.”
– County commissioner Ed Priola
“Fourteen months it took us to get the schematic,” he added, “and that’s kind of putting the meal ahead of the menu…We don’t have an integrated plan for the parking…I think we ought to reevaluate the whole project and figure out what we need for parking.”
The proposed land deal also fell flat with commissioner Pam Thompson, who acknowledged her consistent opposition to any decision even remotely connected to the courthouse expansion.
Not even an azalea bush
“Anything – even if it’s just an azalea bush – that’s attached to this courthouse, I’m not voting for it.”
– County commissioner Pam Thompson
“Anything – even if it’s just an azalea bush – that’s attached to this courthouse,” she added, “I’m not voting for it.”
Kelly Allen, the newly-selected chairman of Alamance County’s commissioners, also voiced some scruples about this $37 million project, which the board agreed to pursue before she was appointed to a vacancy on the board of commissioners late in 2024.
“But I do think we need to more court parking,” she went on to opine before she joined Paisley and Carter in the 3-to-2 decision to approve the property purchase.
