The Orange County Board of Commissioners is proposing the new construction in collaboration with local developer George Horton, who already has approval for his future Gateway Center building on Churton Street, just north of Exchange Park Lane.

The county wants to lease the second and third floor of the Gateway Center for offices, with an option to buy after a year.

Horton has arranged for Weaver Street Market to buy the first floor for a grocery and cafe. As a part of that deal, he gets a parcel the co-op owns on West Margaret Lane that houses the old Southern States building.

The county would buy that site and build a 23,000-square-foot library facing the street. Behind the library, the county plans to site a three-story office building.

Behind that building and on adjacent land, the county would collaborate on a parking deck. It would lease 134 spaces, with the construction company retaining at least 201 more spaces.

The total cost to the county would be about $25 million.

"It solves a lot of things," said Horton, who approached the county months ago. "It solves the parking issue that has been plaguing us for years. And it helps generate opportunity for retail businesses downtown by having employees drive to work and being able to basically leave their cars all day and not have to leave."

The Board of Commissioners, which has been discussing the plans in closed session, will hold a public hearing and could vote on the proposal Thursday.

The Gateway Center is expected to be complete in a year and the other projects by May 2008.

Stephen Halkiotis, the board's vice chairman, said he expects the new construction to meet the county's space needs in Hillsborough for the next 25 years. The project is moving more quickly than typical county construction because, under a 2001 state law, the county will use a process that does not require seeking bids.

"We're looking at bringing in the facility at a fixed guarantee rate, and we're talking about basically the cost of an elementary school," Halkiotis said.

Commissioner Alice Gordon said she has concerns about skipping comments from a design committee; she questions how the county can afford the $92 million it has programmed in debt for capital projects over the next 10 years.

Hillsborough Mayor Tom Stevens said the town welcomes additional county offices and parking.