Committee takes first step in City Hall design process

The first step toward a design for the new City Hall was taken June 12 when the Whitefish future city hall steering committee gave its OK to a request for qualifications document.

The RFQ sets the criteria of qualifications for selecting an architect. In the document, the steps for selection process are also outlined. A selection committee will rank the architect’s statements of qualifications. Three to five teams will be invited for interviews and subsequently asked to present conceptual or virtual models of their proposed design for the building during a design competition.

Last month the City Council approved moving forward with a new City Hall to be constructed at its current site along with an attached parking structure.

“The council vote gives us the ability to more forward somewhat,” City Manager Chuck Stearns told the committee.

As part of the approval, the council is looking to establish a Business Improvement District with annual assessments on downtown businesses to help fund operation and maintenance costs associated with the building.

Stearns said the current timeline puts a proposal on the BID by Labor Day and subsequently the BID could be in place by January 2014.

Stearns said the city hall committee could review the RFQ submittals and narrow down the number of architects. Then after the BID is approved, the committee would move forward with the design competition.

The committee discussed the detail of the parameters to be given to the architects prior to the competition.

“Let the architect decide where city hall should be on the lot,” Toby Scott said. “Then they can tell us why it should be that way for financial or design reasons.”

Councilor Phil Mitchell, who serves on the city hall committee, said allowing for too much variation among designs could be problematic.

“If we narrow the guidelines we will get some designs that are similar,” he said. “Otherwise we’ll get four designs that are totally different and hard to compare.”

Ian Collins said public opinion needs to be considered in selecting the architect and the final design.

Stearns noted that the designs presented during the competition will be the beginning of the design process rather than exactly what the final City Hall building will look like.

He said the “designs are very preliminary” and a lengthy consultation process between the city and architects will determine the final design.

The architect will be working alongside the city’s parking consultant, Kimley-Horn and Associates to create the parking structure portion of the building.