A rendering of the new federal courthouse
Hey, Midtown Harrisburg—do you have any extra parking spaces? If so, the federal government would really like to hear from you.
The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania today issued a request for information (RFI), asking for options for off-site parking for workers and visitors to the federal courthouse currently under construction at N. 6th and Reily streets.
The 243,000-square-foot, $192.7-million courthouse will have just a few dozen on-site spaces as part of the project–and that’s not nearly enough to serve the hundreds of people who might use the building on a given day.
Therefore, according to the RFI, the court must arrange for hundreds of additional spaces by the time the building opens in spring 2022.
In addition to 11 federal judges and their staffs, the building will house the U.S. Attorney’s office, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, the U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services System and the U.S. Marshals Service.
“The new courthouse operations will include a steady stream of visitors: jurors, legal teams and other court-related stakeholders,” stated a press release from the court today.
This issue came up in December at a Harrisburg City Council meeting, when it became clear that the courthouse’s on-site parking would be vastly inadequate to meet its needs. The federal government does not guarantee parking for its employees or visitors, typically relying on private operators or municipally owned lots and garages to meet demand.
Specifically, the RFI calls for 118 to 174 spaces for court employees and another 150 to 300 spaces for jurors. Parking spaces must be located within an 1,100-foot radius of the site.
The RFI comes with a host of other requirements, including an on-site parking attendant, no stacking or double parking and an elevator for multi-level parking.
If you think you have the right parking stuff, you have until April 15 to respond to the RFI. An email can be sent to denise_kester@pamd.uscourts.gov or hand-delivered to the existing federal building at 228 Walnut St., Harrisburg.
To read the full RFI, visit https://www.pamd.uscourts.gov/sites/pamd/files/RFIPARKING-3-7-19%201.pdf.
