Municipal campus could consolidate city offices

City officials are considering creating a downtown municipal center that would consolidate related city departments currently spread throughout downtown and other parts of the city.

The original concept was to create a civic/municipal center that would have a lot of the city-related offices, particularly the ones that the public uses a lot, said Nore Winter, president of Winter & Co., which was hired to write the Downtown Master Plan and study options for the civic center. [The center] would help to create a focal point in downtown.

Defining a place

Winter first proposed the concept in the 2003 Downtown Master Plan and again in the 2013 update; however, the police departments upcoming move to its new headquarters on D.B. Wood Road, which is anticipated to open in November, gave the city an opportunity to capitalize on existing space, Assistant City Manager Laurie Brewer said.

When the police department vacates the building at 809 Martin Luther King St., it will free up office space as well as parking.

The old library has been empty for a number of years, and we have hesitated to put more staff over there even though there is overcrowding in some offices because of the parking situation with the police, Brewer said. We are looking at this as an opportunity to go ahead and move some of our city offices over there. These two spots having all this space really pushes us to want to get something done.

The complex could include the police departments former building as well as the first floor of the Georgetown Communications and Technology building, which will be vacated when the police departments communications office moves to the new station in November. The former library building could also be used.

This is an opportunity because we will continue to grow, and downtown will continue to grow and become more dense, Brewer said. If we dont preserve some of that space now for public use, it is likely that it could get developed into buildings with other uses, and we would lose that opportunity.

Center plan highlights

Winter said part of the municipal center plan will include an analysis of which city offices should be near each other and the square footage needed for each.

Brewer said the city has a facilities plan that identifies the needs of each department that will be updated during the planning process.

[We want to make sure] nothing has changed and determine space needs so that when we come up with a solution, we are coming up with a 20-, 30- or 40-year solution and not just a five- or 10-year solution, Brewer said.

City offices that could be moved include City Hall, located in the former post office at 113 E. Eighth St.; municipal court, located at 101 E. Seventh St.; and some offices at 300 Industrial Ave.

The complex could also include additional green space as well as a festival street that could be shut down for events with little or no effect on nearby businesses, Brewer said.

Given that there are a lot more events in downtown, having a street that you could close we can control that more, and it doesnt become a nuisance for the business owners, she said.

Brewer said the area would be ideal for farmers markets and other regularly scheduled similar events, and the city is still determining how that would work and what events would be held there.

The plan also includes additional parking and the possibility of a parking garage.

Right now [the citys offices] are pretty decentralized, City Manager Paul Brandenburg said. We are looking hard at our facilities so we can maximize the highest and best use for those buildings.

Brewer said City Council could consider selling those properties for commercial use.

That also might mean putting those back on the tax rolls and getting more commercial, retail or some other kind of use, Brewer said. Any time we do that, that helps the entire governmental community because youve got the city, county and school district all collecting taxes on something thats not being done now.

Community input

Winter & Co. is expected to begin hosting community meetings for public input in March, and the plan could be included in the citys budgeting process, Brewer said.

By late summer we could have some options for the council to consider, she said.

Winter said the final plan would also include options for implementation in phases as well as cost estimates.

In our refinement we will show interim uses and phased build-out, he said.

Throughout the 2013 Downtown Master Plan update process, Winter & Co. hosted community forums to garner public opinion and ideas for the downtown. During one of those sessions the team asked community members to give ideas for what the civic center could include, Winter said.

We are testing a couple of scenarios that came out of the communitys ideas in the last workshop and making them realistic, he said.

Winter & Co. created three scenarios and is expected to present more refined ideas when it comes back to City Council, Winter said.

The final report on the municipal center will still have options, Winter said. [We are] developing the plan so the city isnt painted into a corner with just one idea so that if one item doesnt work, the whole plan doesnt work.

Brewer said as Winter & Co. refines the civic center plan the three scenarios could be restricted to include only city-owned properties.