GOSHEN – By this fall,
Orange County officials hope they can begin to think about moving into
a rebuilt Orange County Government Center that will include a modern addition
attached to a good portion of the old government center in Goshen.
Things are beginning to take shape outside, and in. Reporters were given a tour late Friday afternoon, after construction workers cleared out.
The new, larger, lighter, more open County Legislature chamber
Neuhaus, in what will be his new office
When complete, the new will merge with the old but inside. Only a few architectural remnants of the old will remain. One is the three-story atrium.
What used to be the county legislative chamber is being divided into
offices. The legislature will have a new more spacious auditorium
in the new space.
The combined structure will be fully ADA compliant, unlike the original structure which had multiple layers even on the same floor. That was a notable design defect particularly on the ground floor which contained the busy county clerk office and DMV.
County Executive Steven Neuhaus favored tearing the entire old structure down and starting from scratch, but he didn’t win that argument. Now, he is looking forward to finally having all of the key county government functions back in one place.
“This building is going to be a fully functional building when it’s completed, and I look forward to having Orange County Government consolidated again, back here, where people can now have a DMV back in Goshen and have all our departments there, so while they are getting their driver license renewed, they can go and meet with one of the other offices to get things done.”
The government center should be fully open for business by the end of this year.
Neuhaus assured residents of the three cities the county presence will remain in each, and perhaps even grow.
The outside of the addition will NOT be blue. That’s a water and vapor resistant undercoating. The gray paneling
visible to the right and above of the main entrance will be the final color
