Post updated at 10:55 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 15:
Lawrence city commissioners on Tuesday said it’s important to keep City Hall downtown before voting 3-2 against the purchase of a building near Sixth and Iowa to become the city’s new home.
City staff members had asked the commission to approve the purchase of a building, at 2000 Bluffs Drive, would require an estimated $11.7 million in remodeling on top of a $4.2 million purchase agreement. That’s $15.9 million total, which is almost $4 million more than the commission had budgeted, so a future budget amendment would be necessary.
The current City Hall, at 6 E. Sixth St., was built in 1980. It’s about 35,500 square feet, which city staff members and consultants with local design studio Multistudio say is no longer enough space for staff. In addition, staff of Planning and Development Services and Lawrence Municipal Court currently work in space in the Riverfront building next door that is leased for $300,000 per year.
Commissioners heard from more than 30 people, almost all of whom encouraged them to keep city hall downtown for various reasons.
Members of the public shared concerns ranging from traffic in the area to building access, from the “bookends” of downtown between City Hall and the Douglas County Courthouse to the expense of the building purchase, and more.
Commissioner Brad Finkeldei said he agreed with community members that city hall should stay downtown.
“It’s clear that this 1980s building is not sufficient anymore, that expanding this building doesn’t make sense,” Finkeldei said. “Keeping this building might make sense. It’s going to be pretty expensive, and we’ll still need a second location.”
Mayor Bart Littlejohn agreed that the city needs a presence downtown, but it could possibly have another space for employees as well that isn’t forward-facing.
Vice Mayor Mike Dever said he was concerned about taking the Bluffs Drive building off the tax rolls, as well as about issues that had been found in the inspection of the building.
“It’s about improving and investing in downtown like our forefathers and, more importantly, like the people who have come before us today, who realize and who’ve invested their lives and their money in this community, and realize that this is an important part of our community and needs to stay in downtown as much as possible,” Dever said. “And we need to reevaluate, I think, where we put the remaining people who can’t fit here, and how we can reconfigure the riverfront in order to do that.”
Commissioner Lisa Larsen said she thought it was time to take a pause and look at other options to accommodate staff. She said it was “perfectly clear” to her that the city was not going to be able to sell city hall, which she thought was essential for the move to Bluffs Drive.
Commissioner Amber Sellers and Littlejohn voted against Larsen’s motion to cancel the purchase agreement for the Bluffs Drive building. Littlejohn said that was because he wanted to note that the city needs to figure out a space solution for employees.
Read previous coverage of this topic at the links below.
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Mackenzie Clark (she/her), reporter/founder of The Lawrence Times, can be reached at mclark@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
