ALFRED — A new location for a consolidated York County Courthouse has been added to the short list, while another is off the roster.

A site on Barra Road in Robert Dodge Business Park in Biddeford – the location of a number of health care-related offices – is now among those under consideration.

Two others – one in Alfred on county-owned property next to York County Jail and a city-owned Route 1 site in Biddeford – remain in the running as the York County Courthouse Site Selection Committee works toward making its recommendation.

The official deadline for the commission to make its preference known to Chief Justice Leigh Saufley is Jan. 1, but the group’s chairman, Maine Supreme Judicial Court Justice Thomas Humphrey, has encouraged the group to make a decision before Nov. 1.

The new court building will consolidate the three district courts in Biddeford, Springvale and York as well as the York County Superior Court, which sits at the county owned York County Court House in Alfred. The latter was built in 1806, expanded in 1854, and rebuilt in 1934 after a fire.

The site dropped from the list is located off Andrews Road at the Biddeford-Arundel town line. Commission members seemed wary of the $1.2 million asking price and the need to bring utilities to the unimproved forested lot.

There was some discussion of whether the Barra Road site should be added to the list – it had been examined by a commission subcommittee, which had also looked at the Route 1 site in Biddeford – and in the end, the site was added.

State Sen. Linda Valentino (D-Saco), who wrote the bill that funds the $65 million court project passed by the Legislature in the spring session, was enthusiastic about the Barra Road property. She pointed out that the lot is improved with utilities at the ready.

“It is in an area of very high-class, commercial buildings,” she told her fellow commission members.

The purchase price of that lot is $580,000. Valentino noted there are other parcels available, so there is some flexibility with the location.

The Route 1 Biddeford site, known as the Pate property, is owned by the city and carries a purchase price of $650,000.

There would be no cost for the Alfred site, as the county owns about 70 acres on the York County jail property, and county commissioners said the courthouse commission is welcome to have a look to determine which seven acres would be the most suitable.

The commission will also inquire about the possibilities of acquiring property on Route 4 to complement the jail property, if needed to provide frontage. Commissioners said the Alfred site could connect with Sanford sewer lines, and natural gas is being brought up Route 4 to the site of Sanford’s new high school, located about three miles away.

The Maine Judicial Branch is looking for seven buildable acres with room for parking 300 cars and a footprint of 30,000 square feet. The building itself is expected to measure several stories.

The commission began with 27 possible sites, which were narrowed to seven. An examination of six of those sites by the commission – a Kennebunk site owned by the Maine Turnpike Authority was withdrawn by that entity – ultimately narrowed the selection to three.

That number remains the same with the removal of the Andrews Road site and the addition of the Barra Road site.

In the fiscal year that ended June 30, the four courts handled upwards of 18,000 filings, down about 1,500 from the previous year – a reflection, said Maine Judicial Branch spokeswoman Mary Ann Lynch, of the decline in some types of crimes in Maine 2015. Misdemeanors were down, she said, while incidents of more serious crimes were up.

In general, factors to be weighed for a new building are proximity to a major road (an evaluation worksheet suggests proximity to I-95 is of high importance), and the availability of three-phase electrical service, natural gas, domestic water, telecommunications, security, suitability for expansion and the like.

County officials prefer the jail site, citing costs that would be incurred if it were elsewhere, including costs to transport prisoners, corrections staff to monitor holding cells at the new court, and the need for the district attorney’s offices to be close by if not included in the courthouse building.

Commissioners decided to look at all three proposed sites on Oct. 12. They said they’d also be open to other possibilities, if one emerged.

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282-1535, ext. 327 or twells@journaltribune.com.