KENT: Portage County Commissioners ended the courthouse controversy Tuesday, agreeing to build a facility on the site city officials favored.The unanimous vote accepted a plan that calls for Kent to purchase the vacant land at 303 E. Main St., just east of downtown, and give it to the county in exchange for the current courthouse site on South Water Street.The Main Street property is valued at about $1 million; the current courthouse is valued at about $750,000.While the city would end up about $250,000 short in the deal, the investment is worth it because it will alleviate parking problems on both sides of downtown, Economic Development Director Dan Smith said.The city will be able to use the new courthouse parking for retail and restaurants on the east side after hours and on weekends. Meanwhile, the parking lots the current courthouse uses will be freed up to help businesses on the west side, including two corporate tenants who are moving offices to a block of buildings under construction.“We’re extremely pleased to move forward,” Smith said. “We see this as the last piece of the puzzle of the downtown revitalization effort.”While the courthouse talks have generated tension between the city and county, Smith said he appreciates that commissioners took the time to investigate their options.In the end, “it’s a win-win for everybody,” he said.City Manager Dave Ruller was unavailable for comment, but told commissioners in an email the decision “made my day — heck, my week” and that the city would immediately begin the process of acquiring the site.Commissioners originally balked at the East Main Street property, saying it didn’t want to pay for land when it already owned available property inside and outside Kent.The suggestion the courthouse might move out of Kent stirred up the public, and commissioners took a vote to assure Kent they would keep the institution in the city while forming a committee to consider various options.Afterward, Kent proposed the land swap, but Commissioner Tommie Jo Marsilio thought the purchase still wasted taxpayers’ money and Commissioner Maureen Frederick still hoped for a site in the heart of downtown.Commissioner Chris Smeiles always supported the Main Street option.Marsilio said during recent talks, she had come to see the investment in a different way — that the parking solution would help attract and retain new businesses in Kent, which is good for taxpayers. She was also pleased to hear the swap would be made by a nonprofit downtown economic development group, and that “over time, I’ve been assured that taxpayers will receive all their money back” due to the potential for increased investment.Marsilio initiated Tuesday’s vote, saying it was time to end the stalemate. Smeiles was firm on his stance and Frederick had not decided one way or the other “and I can’t just step back and complain about people not showing leadership if I’m not going to show it myself,” she said.Frederick said she has been working to clear up some misunderstandings in the public about the proposal.For one, many people thought the county was attempting to move the entire legal system to Kent. The court is based in Ravenna; the Kent court simply serves that high-population area of the county.Also, she said, people have been concerned that taxes would be raised to pay for the courthouse. But the new courthouse will be built using a special fund collected through a special court fee, Frederick said.Frederick said Kent’s argument on the parking situation — and her own visits to downtown businesses that begged her not to compound their parking headaches — was key to her deciding in favor of the move.“They have experienced such tremendous growth and development, which is a very good thing, but at the core of that development is a greater need for parking,” she said.Marsilio said there is a “footprint” of a new courthouse design that will have to be adapted to the new site and that it’s possible construction could begin by spring.Paula Schleis can be reached at 330-996-3741 or pschleis@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/paulaschleis.