I think some kind of Tompkins government building is inevitable. I prefer the old library site. From the Ithaca Journal:
The Tompkins County Legislature's Capital Plan Review Committee is considering adding two or three stories to Building C on Buffalo Street which now houses the Board of Elections and the County Assessment Office. The possible new space, one of several options, would in addition house the County Office for the Aging, as well as Planning and the Ithaca Tompkins County Transportation Council. / SIMON WHEELER / STAFF PHOTO
Tompkins investigates Center of Government idea
Legislature has one year to vacate courthouse
7:15 PM, Oct. 17, 2011
Written by
Liz Lawyer
Ithaca -- Plans for a Center of Government building to house departments and agencies of the increasingly squeezed Tompkins County government could take several possible forms, the legislature's Capital Plan Review Committee discussed last week.
Aging facilities and a request for more space in the county courthouse by the New York State Court System are requiring the legislature to look for more office space. Committee members are investigating whether a Center of Government building to house many of the county's departments in one place makes financial sense.
The committee was presented with several options in September, ranging from improving current buildings to constructing a whole new building on the site of the Old Library. Other options include adding two or three stories to the Buffalo Street building that currently houses the Board of Elections.
The legislature recently moved the County Office for the Aging out of the courthouse to the Human Services Annex. But the legislature chambers and offices themselves will be next to move out of the courthouse to make room for the state courts.
Legislature Chair Martha Robertson, D-Dryden, said Judge Robert Mulvey agreed to give the legislature another year to plan for the move. At one point, the state courts were asking the legislature to vacate and renovate the space by the start of 2012.
Robertson said the county will be responsible for reconfiguring the space to suit the court's needs, but the extent of renovations will be decided by the courts.
Here's the link:
http://www.theithacajournal.com/arti...overnment-idea