No decision on new City Hall

June Casagrande

Some envision a $30-million City Hall complex with a parking

structure and public square atmosphere. Others say the city should

look for the most efficient way to upgrade the buildings it already

has. Still others say that now is not the time to make a costly

investment.

An hour-and-a-half discussion on City Hall improvements got

emotional Tuesday night, causing the council to continue the matter

until its June 10 meeting. The issue revealed the council members’

diverging visions for the future.

“This is something I’m really torn on,” Councilman Don Webb said.

Webb had suggested looking for solutions to overcrowding and aging

structures at the existing City Hall. But Webb, a longtime city

employee who spent much of his professional career in City Hall, said

he never intended to push for a complete razing of the existing

buildings.

“I like old buildings. When I worked here, I wasn’t in a box.

Nearly every office has a window,” Webb said. “I just feel that we

might be able to get by with leaving some of the buildings here.”

The councilman’s comments came after a lengthy presentation from

Griffin Holdings, a consultant hired to assess needs at City Hall and

solutions. The question before the council on Tuesday night was not

whether to rebuild City Hall, only whether to spend $578,185 to hire

Griffin to create schematic designs for a new facility.

But that question proved too tough to answer in one night. The

council agreed to bring the matter back in two weeks after the public

has had a chance to weigh in.

Griffin’s presentation painted a rosy picture of ways in which a

new City Hall could help pay for itself: a 15% increase in worker

efficiency, valued at about $2 million a year; nearly $100,000 a year

in energy efficiencies; and about $300 a year in revenue from the

parking structure.

The parking structure income would come from charging for

off-hours parking. City Hall visitors would not be charged for

parking.

“We can get by with remodeling; there’s no question about that,”

City Manager Homer Bludau said of the entire project. “But about

130,000 people a year visit this complex who aren’t city employees.

Do they deserve a City Hall complex that better serves their needs?

We believe they do.”

Councilman John Heffernan disagreed.

“I think government shouldn’t get bigger. It should get smaller,”

Heffernan said. “It may be couched in efficiencies, but it will still

say to the citizens that we want a new, bigger City Hall.”

Others, said that City Hall is “busting at the seams” and that

something must be done, if not now, soon.

“We’re the most affluent city in Orange County, but we have the

crummiest, most ratted-out city hall I’ve seen,” Mayor Steve Bromberg

said.

* JUNE CASAGRANDE covers Newport Beach and John Wayne Airport. She

may be reached at (949) 574-4232 or by e-mail at

june.casagrande@latimes.com.