FAIRFIELD — The developer of a struggling strip shopping center is proposing moving the city's crowded and outdated justice center there — but some city officials aren't enthusiastic about the notion.

        The current justice center is housed in a building on Ohio 4 that was not originally intended for a police station and the city's courts. Council members said they will consider the proposal as an option as they decide whether to move the justice center into a bigger building, renovate the existing one or build a state-of-the-art center.

        “I am lukewarm at best,” Councilman Mark Scharringhausen said of the proposal from Neyer Properties, Inc., of Evendale. “If we need to build a new justice center from ground up, then so be it.

        “I would rather do it right than be in another situation where, in too short a time, we are going to have to go out and build another facility because the one we have doesn't meet the needs.”

        The shopping mall, Fair Plaza Center, is at Pleasant Avenue and Patterson Boulevard, about a mile from the Fairfield Municipal Building.

        In a written proposal to Fairfield Planning Director Tim Bachman, Daniel Neyer, president of Neyer Properties, said that nearly half of the strip mall could be razed for the justice center, to be built on the remaining 6.7 acres. A high-quality restaurant would be located at the corner of the plaza near Lo-Bill Foods.

        A restaurant can't be built there now because there isn't enough room for parking, Mr. Neyer said.

        Neyer Properties bought the plaza three years ago and despite pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into it, it remains 67 percent empty, he said.

        After hearing the city was considering moving the justice center, he submitted the proposal.

        Fairfield officials had tentatively planned to move the justice center to the Kroger plaza on Wessel Drive across from the municipal building.

        But recently, they agreed to continue studying the justice center issue and push forward with a proposed $9 million community cultural center in the city's new downtown, Village Green.

        Many residents and some council members think the Village Green area wasn't appropriatefor the justice center. They want to lure upscale businesses to Village Green, which already has a park, amphitheater and library.

        Councilman Mike Snyder said that while he found the Neyer proposal intriguing, he thought Ohio 4 was a more convenient location for the justice center.

        Meanwhile, Fairfield police say they need more room — now.

        Quarters are so tight at the police station that citizens must be interviewed in the lobby, said Fraternal Order of Police President Mike Tiernan. For more private, sensitive interviews, they must step outside in the parking lot — whatever the weather. The previous interview room is now the juvenile diversion counselor's office.

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