BY JIM BARON

PROVIDENCE — The controversial Blackstone Valley Courthouse is on the back burner for at least another year.

In his State of the Judiciary address to the General Assembly on Wednesday, Supreme Court Chief Justice Frank Williams reasserted the need for new courthouse to serve the northern part of the state and to “decongest a severely overcrowded Garrahy Judicial Complex,” but bowed to the state’s looming budget deficit, saying, “I have spoken to the (House) Speaker and (Senate) President about deferring this project for another year.”
Williams added that “the governor has indicated his support for construction if we wait another year. Therefore, all have agreed to postpone the construction until fiscal year 2010.”
The governor’s office had a slightly different interpretation of the situation.
Spokeswoman Barbara Trainor issued a statement after Williams’ speech stating: “The Governor does not think it is prudent to proceed with a new courthouse at this time, but he will be happy to reevaluate the plan in 2010 when the fiscal situation should be improved.”
The crowding at the Garrahy complex, which now serves the entire northern part of the state and part of the East Bay, “will only become more acute and the construction costs are only going to increase as time passes.
Asked if he is concerned the project could be delayed to death, Williams told The Times, “I won’t give up until it is constructed. This isn’t just one year, this has really been put off for six years while we did the new Kent County Courthouse and the Traffic Tribunal.
“The need has been there for more than just the immediate past,” Williams noted, “but I gave my word and was concerned about the money and we will do it next year. I didn’t like it, but I am willing to step up to the plate.”
Responding to critics who say the judiciary has built a new courthouse in West Warwick and a new structure for the Traffic Tribunal in Cranston, so should hold off on further construction projects for the time being, Williams said, “the people still come through our doors and they need a place that is user-friendly and accessible.”
Officials in Lincoln have objected to the proposed site of the courthouse, on state land adjacent to the Community College of Rhode Island off Old Louisquissett Pike, saying it would create further traffic headaches in a neighborhood that already houses the college, Davies Technical High School and the Twin River slot parlor and threatens to put criminals in close contract with commuters to the school and a residential neighborhood.