HomeMy WebLinkAbout05142001 WkshpCITY OF PORT TOWNSEND
MINUTES OF THE WORKSHOP SESSION OF MAY 14, 2001
The City Council of the City of Port Townsend met in workshop session this fourteenth
day of May, 2001, at 4:00 p.m. at the Pope Marine Building, Mayor Geoff Masci
presiding.
ROLL CALL AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
The meeting was called to order at 4:00 p.m. Councilmembers present at roll call were
Allen Frank, Vern Garrison, Syd Lipton, Geoff Masci, and Bill Wolcott.. Joe Finnie
and Alan Youse were excused. Staff members present were City Manager David
Timmons, and City Clerk Pam Kolacy.
CITY HALL ANNEX DESIGN DISCUSSION
Mr. Timmons was present to introduce Dave Rutherford and Rob Lee of ARC, the
architectural design firm working on the initial concept for the city hall annex. He stated
that the purpose of the meeting is to give the council members an opportunity to express
their views and opinions regarding the programming of the space; he noted that the
project looks not to replace or supplant City Hall activities, but to be strictly an
administrative annex.
Mr. Rutherford noted that the programming process has begun to design an annex to
house the administrative functions of the city. He provided a process approach and
tentative schedule. The current Waterman & Katz lease expires in April 2003 so the
timeline has been worked back from that date. The firm has been charged with looking at
three sites: the Waterman & Katz Building; the American Legion lot contiguous to City
Hall, and the parking lot behind City Hall. He noted that city staff has completed the
initial "homework" assignment regarding their space needs and ideas about the general
concept of the building. A citizen's group will meet later in the evening.
The meeting was then open to questions and comments by council members.
Suggestions/comments included:
COncern that staff desires would be the sole project driver. It was noted that drivers in
addition to the staff would be city council, community, the design firm's expertise, and
comparisons with other small city administration buildings.
One-stop shopping on the ground floor which may include non-city entities such as the
Economic Development Council, Main Street, and the Small Business Development
offices.
City Council Study Session Page 1 May 14, 2001
Reference to previous talks with the county; noted the county departments set forth very
large square footage requirements.
Concern not to underbuild or overbuild; consider potential of rental spaces.
Will possible service combinations with county and outsourcing of current services be
considered; if we do end up with extra space, what will we do with it?
Ground floor could be larger than second story.
American Legion encroaches somewhat on the lot so the building potential may be
limited in width.
Possibility of building three stories without incurring much greater incremental expense;
may be able to provide for some public use (for example, PTTV studio). Could be more
public meeting space to take the load off Pope Marine.
What is incremental cost of adding a third floor.
The cost of a foundation will be high on this site.
Desire not to have parks, street supervisors, etc. Possibly retain Waterman & Katz and
make that work with satellite properties used for other staff. (Only staff currently
occupying Waterman & Katz offices will be included in annex.)
Must consider efficiency when locating staff/departments in different locations vs. one
building.
Accessibility: noted that the ground floor of old city hall is not at street level. Annex can
be much more accessible; possibly achieve three floors within the same height constraints
as City Hall.
As much flexibility as possible desirable to delineate spaces so that staff changes can be
easily coped with. (Typically, department directors need private offices, with other space
delineated by partitions.)
Realistic funding estimates for foundation, earthquake prevention, etc. up front.
Renovation of Waterman & Katz may give more square feet per dollar
Designers have worked in Lacey, Redmond, Issaquah, Bellevue; over half their work is
publicly funded; understand object of building with limited funding.
Parking: underground parking probably not feasible given funding constraints
Waterman & Katz considered a failure as a public facility (layout, etc.)
City Council Study Session Page 2 May 14, 2001
May be difficult to connect to City Hall because of different heights; if the annex has a
third floor, might be possible to connect at that height.
Council has made policy decision to house city gov't downtown; doesn't mean that
policy cannot be reversed. Perhaps just the heart of government should be downtown.
City Hall second floor will continue to be used for council meetings and offices and other
public meetings.
ADJOURN
There being no further discussion, the meeting was adjourned at 5:05 p.m.
Attest:
Pamela Kolacy, CMC
City Clerk
City Council Study Session Page 3 May 14, 2001