Belmont County Courthouse Plaza project soon to begin
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ST. CLAIRSVILLE - The Belmont County Courthouse Plaza’s start date for construction is just around the bend, the Belmont County Board of Commissioners during their Wednesday board meeting.
Commissioner Jerry Echemann said that construction is expected to start mid-August with a completion date of May 31. He said that the project will focus on handicap accessibility and beautification of the courthouse steps and rails.
Built in 1886, the Belmont County Courthouse has been in need of ADA compliance updates for some time. The project is to make the plaza ADA accessible and the final estimate for the project is $3,003,477.
A Transportation Alternatives Program grant from the Ohio Department of Transportation covers 95% of eligible costs – up to a maximum of $1,417,714.
In Nov. 2024, the board announced that the plaza will be named “Belmont County Veterans Plaza.” When announced, Commissioner J.P. Dutton said that the name was perfect because across Belmont County there are many villages with a high participation rate in the armed services.
Echemann said that the courthouse is the crown jewel of the county.
"The board of commissioners are responsible for the courthouse, the upkeep, everything, and we spend a good amount of time doing that," Echemann said. "We have to pass it along, I’m out of here at the end of this year, and I want to make sure that while I’m here, we keep the courthouse up and do projects to make it look better, and then pass it along to a new board of Commissioners, so it’s very important."
He added that the project has had some delays which is unfortunately fairly common when it comes to larger projects.
"To be honest, there are delays in almost every project that we undertake. It’s just kind of the nature of the business. It takes a while, things come up, and questions come up," Echemann said. "It does seem to me, and probably to the public, that it takes a long time to get anything done, and we don’t like that, but I don’t know a way around it, really."
He added that the board is very happy that the project will soon be underway.
Echemann said that the project will start out in front of the courthouse and work their way to the back.
"A lot of this was driven by handicap accessibility, make we’re accessible now, but not to the degree that we ought to be, so we’ll get that taken care of, and but there will also be beautification and restoration of steps, which are limestone and things of this nature, so it’ll be nice," Echemann said.
He added that he doesn't believe the project will cause any big delays on U.S. 40.
"There may be occasionally they might have to stop traffic for something, and along those lines," Echemann said. "Mid August is when they are expected to begin with completion at some point next year. There probably won’t be a whole lot of work going on in the winter time, so we’re very happy and anxious for it to start. So, looks like in about a month things will get going."