The center of Whitefish
Real estate swaps, railroad contamination and traffic congestion were some of the issues raised during a Feb. 1 Whitefish City Council work session on where to locate a new City Hall.
The 2006 Downtown Master Plan had identified two options — the southeast corner of Depot Park and a parcel of BNSF Railway land north of the library that the railroad now uses for parking.
The council designated the library site as the preferred location in March 2006. At the time, the estimated cost of a new City Hall building was $3.6 million. The Downtown Master Plan also included a $1.6 million parking structure next to City Hall and a $3 million sale price for the existing City Hall property.
It was rumored in July 2007 that Billings attorney Clifford Edwards had offered to purchase the current City Hall shortly after he sold his jet center at Glacier Park International Airport to Fortune 500 business mogul William Foley.
The city rejected Edwards' offer because it would need to lease the building back until a new City Hall was built.
Tax-increment finance (TIF) funding for a new City Hall is growing by about $250,000 per year, mayor Mike Jenson said, and has now reached about $1.25 million. He noted that he wasn't personally "locked into the library location," and he broached the subject of a real estate swap involving the Block 46 property across from the middle school.
One version of that deal calls for locating City Hall at Second Street and Spokane Avenue and trading off the current City Hall location and perhaps city property on Third Street, where a five-story boutique hotel could go up.
"Where is the center of Whitefish?" councilor Turner Askew asked, noting that "we get caught up with locating downtown" and should consider other places.
Councilor Bill Kahle raised contamination issues at the library site linked to Amtrak fuel spills and wryly noted that his experience with BNSF land deals was "cumbersome."
City attorney John Phelps, however, said talks with BNSF about the library site had been productive.
"We've had numerous meetings," he said. "They've said they want to sell the site. We reached a price, but contamination issues stalled the sale. They usually move glacially, but not this time."
Phelps said the library site was appraised in 2006 at $1.5 million. Councilor Phil Mitchell said he doubted it was worth $700,000 now.
Councilor Chris Hyatt said a committee working on a design for a new high school considered moving the public library into the new high school, a common trend nationwide. In that case, the city could consider taking over the existing library for a new City Hall.
City manager Chuck Stearns said he had considered ways to keep City Hall at the current location, including restoring the "beautiful" brick building beneath the hanging facade. But the building is too close to Second Street and Baker Avenue, he said, which hampers designs to improve traffic flow at the important intersection.
Whichever site is chosen, Kahle noted, parking and traffic access must be provided for both city staff and its customers — contractors, bill payers and the general public. Stearns agreed, saying that was a drawback to the Block 46 location.
Council discussion also turned to how best to continue using the existing City Hall, a combination of several buildings that have been cobbled together over time. Much of the space will be emptied when the police, fire and municipal court depart in June for the new Emergency Services Center, but Stearns said he expects City Hall will remain where it is now for at least another five years.
Short-term and long-term uses include providing much-needed public rest rooms for downtown visitors, demolishing the fire hall to provide parking, leasing office space to nonprofits, moving the city planning office there, using the basement for storage and expanding the city attorney's office.
Jenson opposed leasing office space, saying the city has 'shoehorned" staff in the current location and they need some "breathing room." Public works director John Wilson ruled out using the basement for storage because of potential flooding .
Whitefish architect Doug Rhodes, who has worked on the building in the past, estimated the cost for designing public rest rooms in the old City Hall at $7,310. Deciding the configuration (how many rest rooms, unisex versus men's and women's rest rooms' could require 2-3 staff meetings, Stearns said.