Whitefish seeks public input on City Hall options
After the Whitefish City Council last month put the brakes on choosing a site for a new City Hall, city officials now are gathering public comments.
A "citizen engagement" meeting is planned at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 19, at the O'Shaughnessy Center in Whitefish to let people weigh in on when and where a new City Hall should be built. City officials will explain the five options being considered and how the city would pay for a new facility.
The council was asked to narrow five options to two preferred sites at its Sept. 6 meeting, but instead delayed a decision for at least another month.
Building a new City Hall was a major component of the Whitefish downtown master plan that was adopted in 2006. That plan identified a location north of the Whitefish library as the preferred site; the city owns the south half of an existing parking lot while BNSF Railway Co. owns the north half of the lot.
A space needs assessment indicated the city needs at least 18,137 square feet to accommodate the administration and legal departments, public works, planning and building and parks and recreation departments.
The assessment listed land acquisition costs at $1.5 million and building construction at roughly $3.2 million.
The city has $1.5 million set aside in the City Hall construction fund and continues to set aside $250,000 per year in accordance with an earlier resolution passed by the council. The city also has about $104,000 in collected impact fees earmarked for City Hall, according to City Manager Chuck Stearns.
Tax increment revenue or a loan or bond paid by tax increment funds likely would be used to finance construction in addition to funds on hand at the time.
Keeping the current City Hall - estimated to be worth between $3.5 million and $4.5 million - is among the options. The brick building was constructed in 1917 and remodeled in 1958 to include its present exterior facade.
Through the years the city expanded into two adjacent buildings on Second Street. When a new library was built in the late 1990s, the library facility housed at City Hall was relocated and that space was converted to the current City Council chambers.
The city recently paid $750,000 to buy two lots in back of City Hall to give the city ownership of the entire west half block, totaling 39,260 square feet.
Other options include the western half block where Calvary Church and the Professional Arts Building are located on Baker Avenue; the site north of the library; two-thirds of Block 46 between Spokane and Kalispell avenues; and Mountain West Bank at 601 Spokane Ave.
Whitefish's tax increment finance district will end in 2020, so the city would have to complete a new City Hall by then if it intends to use tax-increment revenue, Stearns said.
Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.