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April 14, 2010

 

MEMORANDUM

TO:               City Council

FROM:        David J. Deutsch, City Manager

SUBJECT: Adaptive Reuse of Existing City Hall in 2011

The City of Bowie’s new city hall is currently projected to open in the late Winter or early Spring of 2011. As part of the ongoing planning process for the upcoming relocation to this new facility, staff was tasked with analyzing the future uses for the existing city hall structure. This process actually began in 2008, with the distribution of a memorandum dated February 13, 2008 (attached) that addressed the advantages of maintaining a municipal presence at the current site, proposed usages at this location, the impact of keeping some functions at this site, the projected costs associated with its continued use, and a staff recommendation that supports keeping the facility.

This recommendation concluded that keeping a municipal presence at the existing city hall would:

Subsequent to this report and discussion with the City Council, staff advertised in the Spotlight and through press releases in the local media for suggestions from the community as to what should become of the old city hall building. As you may expect, the uses submitted were broad in nature. Suggestions were received from city committees, organized sports groups, city staff, existing user groups, non-profits groups and for the establishment of additional city services.

None of the viable uses submitted would have resulted in additional revenue received by the City of Bowie. The more active uses suggested included an animal shelter, indoor lacrosse and an arts center, which would have created additional City expenditures. Other suggestions would have used space to store equipment and material.

As this process has unfurled, the following services and functions are what we know will remain at the current address as discussed in the budget message in the FY11 proposed budget.

-Youth Services Bureau
-City Studio
-Comcast Cable
-Multipurpose Room for large meetings which cannot be accommodated in the new City Hall
-Other meeting rooms for community and City meetings

Staff recommends that the approval of uses at this location be done slowly and with considerable discussion. There is no immediate need to fill all available space. No single user group has come forward willing to provide rental income with the exception of the Bowie Community Media Corporation. (Council currently provides an annual grant of $7,500 to the Bowie Community Media Corporation.)

The first step staff envisions is an opportunity to reposition the existing services in the building and to consolidate the uses into one main hallway. This is the hallway that currently encompasses the Departments of Finance and Community Services, building restrooms, the cable studio, and the Comcast offices.

This can be achieved by moving the Youth Services Bureau into the existing Finance Department and Community Services office areas. The existing entrance next to the Finance payment window would become the main entrance to the facility. The current main entrance would remain locked from the outside, unless there was a user group in the multipurpose room. This would allow the counselors sufficient space for individual offices, the prevention coordinator, mentoring volunteer coordinator and some interns. Clients would have easier access to services since the offices would be located immediately inside the building. Sufficient storage is also created for their day to day operations. 

As part of the development of the new City Hall, staff has stated consistently that local nonprofit groups that need meeting space would continue to be able
to use the 2614 Kenhill Drive address. Under the scenario presented, areas that would be eligible for use by these groups would include:

-Multipurpose Room
-Council Chambers #205
-Meeting Room #204
- 4 smaller meeting rooms reclaimed from existing offices

Designating these areas for meeting space will allow us to serve our current user groups.

The staff lounge would continue to exist in Room 215. Our Information Technology Department will continue to occupy most of the space that they currently occupy in order to provide a back up site for all voice, data and network services, internet and GIS services and to serve as an Emergency Operations Center. Some current Information Technology space that has hallway access will be used for meeting rooms. The Finance window (Room 200) will be occupied by the Administrative Office Associate I to greet and assist visitors, answer phones and coordinate activities for this site. The City Hall Monitor will also work out of this area to serve residents and direct visitors to other parts of the building

With these changes and designations, the hallway that holds the Department of Planning, the current Youth Services Bureau and the City Manager’s Office would remain vacant for the time being as would the hallway that includes Animal Control and Human Resources Divisions. Thermostats would be changed accordingly and the hallway cordoned off. These actions will allow us to examine more closely how effective this works and identify any interior changes that need to be made for the following budget year. Some energy savings would be anticipated in this approach. An interior map that captures these recommendations is included for your use as needed.

I recommend that the City Council accept this approach for the use of the current city hall property.

Attachments:

Sketch of City Hall offices
February 13, 2008 Memorandum re: City Hall Uses