City Hall needs room to grow

One of the speakers at the public comment portion of the May 20 City Council meeting voiced the opinion that, in the future, the functions of the new City Hall may need more space.

Michelle Howke noted that City Hall has moved multiple times in the past 15 years, and will undoubtedly require more space as the years go on.

If an adjacent parking structure is designed utilizing all the remaining space for cars, this expansion is going to be impossible.

Even today, before an architect has been chosen, a request to be included in the City Hall structure by the Chamber of Commerce and the Convention and Visitors Bureau offices has been put forward by Kevin Gartland.

It is imperative that the parameters of the RFP that goes out to interested architects, one of which will be selected in a competition, indicate a directive that allows room for expansion of City Hall in the future. To force every square foot of a parking structure to be reserved for cars may produce a very short-sighted plan.

The competing architects must be encouraged to create a distinctive design for our City Hall and must not be hog-tied to a preconceived concept for a parking structure.

— George Gardner