Community Space Development
Community Space Development
On December 14, 2021, the Carnation City Council received information from the City Manager regarding the development of a Community Space. Earlier in 2021, the City Council received schematics and a construction estimate for $9M. As this amount proved to be beyond the City’s capacity and with the transition to a new City Manager, the City Council wanted to provide further direction on an alternate facility.
Goal: The City Council’s goal is to build a 4,200 square feet facility that will be a community space, Emergency Operations Center and house up to 8 municipal employees. This goal is driven by a $4M budget (design and construction). The current City Hall is located at 4621 Tolt Avenue and houses nine City employees, four consultants and 4 non-profits. The current City Hall is in poor condition and presents multiple challenges.
The table below shows four options presented for consideration. After much discussion the Council selected the Plaza where the Chamber of Commerce little house is located to be further evaluated for the new community space and municipal offices.
A few days later, the City Manager met with merchants and the Chamber of Commerce to further discuss pros and cons associated with this site. The main concerns were use of a park-like area for development, impact to nearby businesses, consistency in community character and parking.
The City Manager recommended two phases for development. Phase I would be the development of the community space and partial municipal services in the downtown area. Phase II would be improvements to Public Works Maintenance Yard to include additional former City Hall staff. The cost expectations are $4M for Phase I and $2M for Phase II. The City has identified funding sources for Phase I and II.
What’s next?
Staff will now evaluate the selected site to determine feasibility of construction given the available funding. The City will begin evaluating utilities and land use constrains.
Here is the input from staff SWOT analysis of the site currently on the table for Phase II- The park like place where the Chamber’s little house is located. We share these initial thoughts
STRENGTHS
- PARKING REQUIREMENTS ARE ADDRESSED
- HAS ITS OWN ADDRESS
- HAS FIBER OPTICS
- UTILITIES
- CLOSE TO TOT LOT
- IMPROVEMENTS PAID FOR- TOLT AVE
- SMALL SITE, LESS EXPENSIVE TO DEVELOP
- EFFICIENT SITE
- SOUTH AND NORTH VISIBILITY
- SEPARATED FROM TOLT COMMON PARK STRUCTURE
- DOES NOT PRECLUDE FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF TOLT COMMONS
- GARBAGE SERVICE IS ADDRESSED
WEAKNESSESS
- UTILITIES
- PARKING TAKEN AWAY
- NO SEWER CONNECTION
- ZONING: ALLOW THE COMMUNITY SPACE AND MUNI SERVICES
- TAKING UP BIRD STREET
- PARKING IMPACT
OPPORTUNITIES
- SELL CURRENT BUILDING FOR REVENUE
- CLOSE TO THE TOT PARK
- BIRD STREET CONTRIBUTES TO THE FEEL.
- HORSES
- TEAR DOWN CHAMBER SMALL HOUSE
- CONSISTENCY WITH USES WITH OTHER PROPERTY
- REFOCUS PW ATTENTION FROM BOXES TO MAINTENANCE OF PROPERTY
- USE OPEN TOLT AVE AS OPPORTUNITY
THREATS
- NEARBY BUSINESSESS/IMPACT
- SHADOW IMPACT
- LACK OF PARKING AFFECTING REVENUE
- SECOND FLOOR/TWO STORY/SHADE TO PETE
- FUTURE EXPANSION OPPS WILL BE LIMITED
The City Manager will provide monthly updates on this project during the first Council meeting of the month. Updates will be posted after this meeting takes place.
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