TIFTON — Though plans are very much in their larval stage at the moment, progress towards the county courthouse renovations and addition is under way.

The Tift County board of commissioners met with architect Mac McCall across their workshop and regular meeting this month to discuss and sign off on the preliminary design plans for the upgrades, renovations, and addition to the county courthouse, which the county has been pursuing since last year.

Accompanied by a refitting of the former Tifton Gazette building into an annex and complementary facility to the courthouse for storing long-term records and providing spaces for various offices, McCall explained that the main courthouse building would see renovations to every floor, as well as a significant increase in square footage on account of the planned addition.

Under the planned revisions, the basement floor will be reserved for magistrate and probate courts, a holding area for designated prisoners coming to those courts, and rooms for mechanical and electrical infrastructure.

The majority of courtrooms will be relocated to the addition, which would also include a hearing room, while the third room will host offices for the Alternate Dispute Resolution department, juvenile court, state court, and superior court as well as an additional courtroom and the grand jury room.

McCall assured the commissioners that he and his architecture firm, McCall and Associates, had met with the clerk of court and judges, adjusting the design plans as per their requests and specifications and earning the seal of approval from both parties.

He stressed that the current plans were very much in their preliminary stage, intended to outline planned areas and the general sizes required for the courthouse before they moved onto more concrete initiatives like the placement of structural columns and electrical or HVAC work.

With the plans for the courthouse approved and moving into full production design, McCall reported that the construction plans for the Gazette building would go out for bid and subsequently enter construction, with the intent of finishing shortly before the courthouse began that stage of development. This would allow staff to relocate temporarily to the new annex building during the construction process.

The architect estimated that the Gazette building would take around eight to ten months of construction, with the bid requiring an additional one or two months, while the courthouse would take at least eighteen, possibly more if shortages on necessary materials or other such delays were to occur.