JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- It's the construction project that just won't end. Action News has learned the $350 million dollar Duval County Courthouse is still not up to code. And the extension the City gave to the contractor, Turner Construction, expired Monday.
"It's unfortunate there's still unresolved items," said City Council President Bill Bishop. Among those unresolved items, are doors inside the courthouse that aren't handicap accessible.
"The definition of handicap accessible is that they can't take more than a certain amount of pound force to open the door," said Bishop.
However, Bishop says Turner Construction and the city can't seem to agree on that handicap code. "Turner says it complies with the code. The city says it doesn't. And they're simply at loggerheads over that. How that's going to get resolved? At this point, I don't know."
Bishop says the problem is Turner has gotten most of its money. The courthouse is no longer a high priority for them. And while the company is working to fix the problems, Bishop says it doesn't look like there's a big hurry. "If Turner doesn't see any reason to close it out quickly, and don't see that it's in their interest, then it's not going to happen. So the city has to force the issue. The city has to say 'enough is enough get the work done or we're going to charge you for it'."
The city granted Turner another extension, which expires May 7th. And right now, Bishop says the delay is not costing taxpayers anything but time.
It's important to note that there are no life-threatening safety issues in the building.
We have reached out to Turner Construction for comment, but we haven't heard back yet.
