It will take some time to digest the master plan presented Monday night to the Rowan County Board of Commissioners. The document builds a case for holding on to the West End Plaza, as was expected. But all the plan’s scenarios are pie in the sky at the moment, considering the financial challenges the county faces.

One peculiar aspect of the report from ADW Architects is the way using mall space for government offices leads  — via the domino effect — to splintering the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office.

First, look at Plan B, “without West End Plaza.” It puts a $25.95 million price tag on keeping the Sheriff’s Office, magistrates and probation all in one new building downtown, across Liberty Street from the courthouse complex. Nearly half of that expense would go toward parking and an over-street bridge to link the new building to the courthouse.

Plans A1 and A2, “with West End Plaza,” avoid building that new structure by splitting up the Sheriff’s Office over three sites — moving most of it to East Innes Street, where it would replace Social Services and the Health Department; putting parts “requiring courthouse adjacency” at 402 N. Main St. (two blocks from the courthouse), and designating a corner of the courthouse’s second floor Superior Court space for jail administration.

Meanwhile, magistrates would move to the detention center, and probation offices would be scattered in several locations —the Crawford Building at 310 N. Main St., the county building at 402 N. Main and space formerly occupied by the sheriff’s office in the court complex.

This may be fine with the sheriff. But the space needs study conducted by the same firm found the Sheriff’s Office was already struggling with having part of its jail off site, in a satellite facility on Grace Church Road. The space needs study mentions the challenges of transporting inmates and supervising operations.

If the ADW Architects’ plan A1 or A2 prevails, the Sheriff’s Office’s sense of unity may end up being collateral damage. Being under one roof was the purpose of moving Social Services to its current location, and the school system is about to build a central office for the same reason.

There are other odd pieces in this space-needs puzzle, like ADW’s suggestion that the Rowan Public Library History Room and Genealogical Collection move to the mall. Really?

ADW might not have identified all the best possible uses for the mall, but the firm has given commissioners rationale for holding on to the property. What happens next is a mystery.