City officials delved into the possibilities for a new City Hall at an informational meeting last week, reviewing the costs and benefits of three potential locations and emphasizing the importance of the relocation’s timing.
More than two dozen people turned out for the meeting, where City Planning Director Terry Schum presented a report that ultimately recommended the Friends Community School on Calvert Road as the best location for a new City Hall because of its lower cost and quicker, easier redevelopment.
The lot occupied by the current City Hall is slated to become a residential development and parking garage in the coming years, leading officials to ponder where they can put a new and expanded municipal building.
Using the Friends School site — currently occupied by a Quaker-run private school and the city’s Department of Public Services — could move the downtown redevelopment project into its planning stage within the next year and satisfy those who want to keep City Hall near the downtown center, but will likely upset residents who prefer a school to a busy city center in their neighborhood.
The city had worked with a consultant to review three possibilities: the Friends School site, the half-acre parking lot across Knox Road from City Hall and a 2.7-acre lot of land used by the Branchville Volunteer Fire Department off Greenbelt Road.
The site the council picks for a new City Hall will also affect the timeline for the downtown redevelopment project, Schum said. A new City Hall has to be completed before the old one is demolished to make way for the development and parking on the current Knox Road site.
Construction of the new City Hall could start as soon as June 2006, Schum said, but acquiring property at the Branchville site or adjacent to the Knox Road parking lot could delay construction for a year or more — creating a ripple effect that would keep the city from completing its downtown revitalization until late 2009 or 2010, Schum said.
The Friends School site would be the cheapest and easiest, Schum said, mostly because the city already owns the building and would only need to renovate and expand it at an estimated cost of $6.9 million. Approximately $3.5 million of that cost would go toward asbestos removal, which would have to be done even if the site remained a school.
However, some members of the community didn’t want the city to give up using the historic building as a school when its current tenant moves out by August 2006. Eliminating that possibility was the “biggest drawback” to that site, Schum said.
“We’ve heard from a lot of you,” Schum said. “It makes this decision even more complicated for the city council.”
City resident Veronica Larvie asked the officials to consider the less tangible value of schools in the neighborhood — or even the monetary value of the building if the city could lease it to another private school.
The city’s consultant, however, said the rent a private school would pay would be unlikely to recoup the cost of asbestos removal and renovation.
The Branchville site is currently owned by the county and leased by the neighboring fire department for parking, storage and a playground. Building a new City Hall on the site would cost approximately $7.6 million, Schum said.
Though the Branchville lot is spacious and located near the city’s geographical center, acquiring it would be complicated, Schum said. The city would first have to get the permission of the fire department’s board of directors and then get permission from the county to alter or join the 99-year lease the fire department holds on the property.
Putting City Hall across the street would be the least desirable option, Schum said, since it would cost the city parking and office space it could sell or lease for an estimated $2 million. It could also cost the city valuable time if the council cannot buy two residential lots adjacent to the parking lot and has to exercise its power of eminent domain.
However, the lot would allow City Hall to remain close to the heart of downtown College Park, easily accessible to students and business patrons.
“City Hall has always been in this vicinity. It’s where people expect to find the center of government,” Schum said. “It centers the downtown and makes it a ‘true civic center.’”
The city will hold a public hearing 7 p.m. Tuesday to hear residents’ opinions on the potential sites and is expected to choose a site the same evening.
