Hatboro Advances Plan to Relocate Court

Hatboro officials are moving forward with plans to possibly relocate District Judge Paul Leo to vacant space at neighboring Victorian Village.

The borough has been looking for several years to have Leo's court relocated from its current locale in the cramped second floor of borough hall to the adjacent location, amid the strip mall where Victorian Village Italian Bistro, as well as a bank and a nail salon are located.

The council this week approved the solicitation of bids for the outfitting of what Borough Manager Fred Zollers described as a "shell."

"There’s not even a floor," he told Patch. "No plumbing, no walls."

The contractor would "have to do everything" to get the never-used space ready for its intended purpose.

Zollers said the bid package was still being finalized, so he was not sure how long bids would be accepted, or when the project would be awarded. 

"It’s going to be the least amount of time that’s legally possible," Zollers said. "They want to get them in and get started as soon as possible."

The urgency stems from a tentative 10-year lease agreement between Hatboro and Montgomery County. Hatboro officials said previously that the space needed to be ready by Sept. 1 or the county would find another location for Leo. Should the latter happen, Hatboro would lose the projected $70,000 per year in lease fees, plus the very real possibility of having two vacant spaces. 

When bids were first sought for the outfitting and relocation in 2010, officials said it was expected to cost $300,000 to ready the space for court. The project, under the previous administration's oversight, died soon after.

Should bids be awarded, Hatboro would be responsible for the first $150,000 to outfit the space and the remainder would be split between Hatboro and the county.