New Linn County Juvenile Courthouse will be elevated

The new Linn County Juvenile Courthouse will have to be elevated four feet to protect it from flooding.

The building will be built next to Eighth Avenue SW on the site of the old Freeway Lounge, about four blocks from the Cedar River.

Roughly four feet of dirt is needed to lift the building to an acceptable elevation, said Garth Fagerbakke, the county's construction services manager.

The building will be 23,000 square feet, and will include three courtrooms, room for a fourth, juvenile clerk's offices and plenty of room for juvenile probation and juvenile county attorney's offices on the second floor.

Surveyors found in the last few weeks that flooding at the site reached a little higher than officials previously thought, increasing how much fill is needed. Fagerbakke wants the building to be a foot above the 2008 flood level, about four feet higher than the current site.

“We want to be good stewards,” he said.

The supervisors hope to put the job out for bid in April and begin construction in May.