PROVIDENCE — The president of the Rhode Island Senate yesterday said he was disappointed at Governor Carcieri’s veto Friday of a resolution that took the first step toward establishing a Blackstone Valley courthouse in Smithfield.

Sen. Joseph A. Montalbano, D-Lincoln, North Providence and Pawtucket, said, “This resolution provided no money to a courthouse project this year, but it did expressly recognize the need for a courthouse to serve the Blackstone Valley.”

Montalbano said he served on a panel that studied the issue. “The evidence is overwhelming that the current facilities are inadequate and unable to properly handle the growing volume of cases being heard there. It is a problem that is only going to worsen unless action is taken. The fact is that there is a glaring need for a courthouse to properly serve the people of the Blackstone Valley, and the governor’s veto of this legislation ignores that need for no good reason.”

Carcieri conceded on Friday that court personnel and the public are sometimes “forced to deal with cramped spaces, inadequate parking, peeling paint and other difficult conditions.” But he added that “Rhode Islanders facing rising energy prices and deteriorating roads will find little solace in the proposed Blackstone Valley courthouse.”

And the governor said he had heard no clamor for a courthouse. “Never, not even once, has any Rhode Islander — save a legislator or a judge — ever spoke to me of the pressing need to build a courthouse in the Blackstone Valley.”

Sen. John J. Tassoni Jr., D-Smithfield and North Smithfield, one of the backers of the courthouse plan, estimated last week the cost of constructing a judicial building at $80 million. The planned site was a 12-acre tract on George Washington Highway that is owned by the state and lies adjacent to Washington Grove, a former state park.

Montalbano said that the resolution noted that in 2006 about 56,000 filings and hearings originated from the Blackstone Valley region. He cited statistics indicating that during the seven-year time period from 1999 to 2006, Superior Court misdemeanors increased by 29 percent, and felonies by 16 percent. In District Court, misdemeanors increased by 14 percent, and felonies by 36 percent.

He noted further that when the Garrahy Judicial Complex in Providence, where cases from the Blackstone Valley are adjudicated, was constructed, it was designed to deal with a projected daily occupancy of 1,500 persons. “In recent years, the daily traffic has increased to around 3,500 persons, more than twice the number the building was constructed to handle,” he said.

Montalbano said the resolution did not appropriate money, but listed the proposed Blackstone Valley Courthouse in the state’s long-term capital plans.

He said further that moving the proposed court to Smithfield solved a problem in neighboring Lincoln, where “an objectionable location” was a barrier.

“My constituents had concerns about the appropriateness of the initial site at the Community College of Rhode Island’s Lincoln Campus,” the Senate president said. “They expressed to me concerns regarding traffic, crowding and safety. Working with Chief Justice Frank Williams and others, we were able to find a suitable, centrally located site, not far from Route 295 in Smithfield.”

He gave particular credit to Tassoni for his help in finding a new site.

“It was important to the people of Lincoln to have the express assurance that the courthouse would be located not in CCRI, but at the Smithfield site. And it is important to the people of Lincoln, North Providence and Pawtucket — many of whom are my constituents — as well as the people throughout the Blackstone Valley, that a courthouse which can handle their needs and properly serve them be a part of long-term capital plans in the state. Finally, there is a ripple effect felt throughout the judiciary because of the overloaded caseloads being imposed upon the Garrahy Complex. It is important to all Rhode Islanders that the judicial branch of government operate as efficiently and cost effectively as possible, and therefore it is important to all Rhode Islanders that appropriate long-term capital planning is conducted, which should include a courthouse to serve the Blackstone Valley. For all these reasons, I find it regrettable that Governor Carcieri chose to veto this important legislation.”

tmorgan@projo.com