It has taken months, but the county is now ready to move forward with repairs to the Orange County Courthouse. County Commissioner Barry Burton expressed his excitement this week about the Master Plan for the renovations to the courthouse being completed.
John Dineen with the firm HDR has worked closely with Burton and Orange County to prepare the Master Plan before the January 5, 2018 deadline to submit it to the Texas Historical Commission. Brit Barr with the Texas Historical Commission also helped in preparing the Master Plan.
Next Orange County will make an application for grant funds from the Texas Historical Commission. Burton informed, “We should know the results of that sometime in April.”
The Texas Historical Commission provides grant monies to help renovate historical courthouses in the state which includes the one in Orange. The Texas legislature controls the purse strings for those grants and has made some changes this last session. The legislators have asked for a lot of things they never requested before. Burton advised there may be a need for a small job change in the county to comply with the new guidelines.
Burton explained the scope of the work to be done on the courthouse structure covered by the Master Plan will encompass repairs to the marble façade on the courthouse and damage caused by Tropical Storm Harvey. “We now have the possibility of some window replacements, roof work, and some other items we can apply for grants,” Burton concluded.
-Dan Perrine, KOGT-
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