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Council reviews concept to build new city hall on existing city-owned lot; public asks exploration of historic building options
Summary
City staff presented a concept to demolish and replace a city-owned building near the library with a new city hall and to reassign the current city-hall building to the police department. Residents urged staff to evaluate restoring an existing historic building and to provide more cost comparisons before deciding.
City staff presented a conceptual plan Feb. 18 to build a new city hall on a city-owned parcel near the library, using a design based on a nearby Farm Bureau–style building, and to move the police department into the current city-hall facility.
Staff said the preferred site is a city-owned one-block parcel with an existing but partially unusable building; replacing that building with a new structure of roughly 3,400 square feet would provide longer-term space for administrative functions and a larger public meeting area. Staff estimated a construction cost on the order of $1.5 million at $450 per square foot for a new building based on updated plans; demolition and site work would be additional.
Councilors and members of the public raised several questions: whether restoring the existing historic downtown building (previously used as city hall and often called the Henshaw/Henshoe/Discovery Center building in comment) would be cost-effective, how the city would finance a new building (developer impact fees, reserves, interfund loan or commercial financing), and whether new or reused space should include community or nonprofit tenants.
Several residents urged the council to study renovating the historic building that is currently for sale and to obtain a formal cost estimate for rehabilitation before committing to a new-build plan. Staff suggested a focused due diligence evaluation — an architect/engineer study and cost estimate — as a reasonable first step.
Council discussion also noted the city’s existing rec-center and civic-space planning and asked staff to consider multiuse opportunities such as community meeting space or shared offices for nonprofits in the new design. Council asked staff to return with more refined options and cost estimates, including a comparative cost study for renovating an existing historic building vs. new construction on the city-owned lot.
No final decision was made. Council asked staff to prepare a follow-up report with an architect’s assessment, construction and renovation cost estimates and potential funding strategies.
