BonnerSprings.com

The Bonner Springs City Council meeting included a dose of fresh air, and for at least one Council member, a walk down memory lane.

The council’s tour of the 1918 Building during a study session before the regular meeting capped a presentation by Robb Miller, city management intern, on a report he produced on the city’s options for the building and for city administrative and police department office space needs.

The Council took no action on the building or on expanding the city’s space needs, but will discuss how to address these issues at its May 27 meeting, after members have had the opportunity to read Miller’s reports, City Manager John Helin said.

Miller’s report came with the recommendation that the city renovate the 1918 building for a new City Hall. Miller’s previous appearance before the council was for the purpose of presenting a report on the city’s space needs. The police department’s building, at 120 N. Nettleton, as well as the current city hall building, 205 E. Second St., are at their maximum capacities, Miller told the council during a February meeting, and the police department’s needs are “dire.”

The department lacks an interview room, the training room is too small and there is no locker room, Miller said.

The department’s current building is listed at 2,900 square feet, and with the department’s current staff of 28 on a typical shift there is about 100 square feet per person, Miller said.

City Hall is listed at 8,177 square feet, and houses city administration offices, which includes the city manager’s office, the city clerk’s office, the office of budget and finance, Tiblow Transit dispatch, the planning department, the codes official’s workspace and the office of community and economic development.

The police department needs an estimated 6,000 square feet for expansion, Miller said, while City Hall needs a minimum of 16,000 square feet.

Miller estimated the 1918 building’s space for offices and community activities to be 30,000 square feet, including a community space of about 10,500 square feet on the bottom floor.

Miller’s report included a history of the building, which was originally a high school designed by architect Charles A. Smith, to sit on one of the highest points in the city, on property donated for the purpose in 1873. The ground floor’s stonework came from a Bonner Springs quarry and the rest of the building is concrete with an exterior of red bricks. The building’s construction used day laborers, which Miller wrote consisted mostly of men returning from World War I. Finished in 1920, the total cost came to $110,115.

Bonner Springs’ first four-year high school was housed in the building, which received a 1951 addition on its east side, where the Senior Center, Community Center, Parks and Recreation Department, Municipal Court and city library are now located.

In 1986 the building and its addition were deeded to the city, four years after the 1918 building’s last use, as a middle school.

In 2002 the building was placed on the National Historic Register, qualifying under the criteria of education and architecture. The city has spent about $125,000 on the building’s maintenance, Miller said, including repairs to the roof and skylights and replacement of about one third of the windows.

In addition to the renovation and use of the 1918 Building, Miller’s report listed four other options for the city:

• Keep the status quo and do nothing.

• Build a new facility for city hall and/or the police department.

• Buy and convert the Centennial Building, 131 Oak St., into City Hall.

• Expand the current City Hall by adding another floor to the building.

Each option had its own advantages and disadvantages, but a decision matrix and scorecard Miller showed made it clear that the use of the 1918 Building suffered from only one, albeit costly, negative: the price for restoring the building would come to more than the cost for any of the other options.

Miller estimated the cost for renovating the building to be $4,325,000, which included a deduction of tax credits worth $1,275,000, construction costs of $5,100,000 and design and engineering costs of $500,000.

With this option the police department would then move into the current City Hall and the department’s headquarters would then be sold. The revenue from putting the property on the tax rolls would be offset by the cost of moving, Miller said.

Helin said the 1918 Building’s renovation would mean essentially gutting it while restoring the building’s exterior, and keeping its other architecturally significant elements, such as the staircases and stage.

While keeping the status quo for City Hall and the police department is not a real option, building a new facility for City Hall, with or without a new building for the police department, has two major drawbacks: no property of adequate size would be available downtown for City Hall, which would mean locating administrative offices outside downtown, and city services and functions would not be centralized in one location.

The Centennial Hall building has about 18,000 square feet on two floors, with about 5,000 square feet of that area now occupied by retail stores. The cost for the city to convert the building would depend on whether the city opted to use just one or both floors. To use just the bottom floor would cost an estimated $3,400,000, including a building sale price of $1,250,000 and design and engineering costs of $500,000.

Using both floors would cost an extra, estimated $750,000 in construction costs.

Costs for using Centennial Hall for the square footage of space makes it the most expensive option, Miller said.

The expansion of the current City Hall building, of adding another story on top, would cost an estimated $3.9 million, and provide 20,000 square feet of additional space. Under this option the police department would be moved to the ground floor and city administrative services would be moved to the second floor. The building would also be expanded to the west, toward the 1918 Building, using space now occupied by the Bonner Springs EMS offices, which will move into the Bonner springs Fire Department headquarters at 13001 Metropolitan Ave., when construction for an expansion there is finished. Expanding the current building would require additional parking for the police department, require future expansion to meet space needs beyond the foreseeable future and be among the most expensive options for cost per-square-feet it would provide.

Along with the city’s space options, Miller presented a report on options for the city to consider in re-using the 1918 Building. These included selling it to a private developer, demolishing it and converting it for use as a City Hall.

The first option would have the benefit of putting the building on the tax rolls and thus bring new revenue for the city, and incur no additional cost above the estimated $125,000 already spent on the building. The second option, demolition of the building, would entail costs of approximately $341,000 in asbestos removal and demolition, paying back $26,880 in grant funds used for window replacement and a fine of $25,000 from the State Historic Preservation Office which would likely rule against the demolition. The total costs to demolish the building come to an estimated $577,973, Miller’s report said.

After Miller’s report, most of the Council members accompanied him and Helin for a short walk and a tour of the 1918 Building.

“I remember this stairway,” said Council member Jeff Harrington, who attended junior high school in the building. On the second floor he found the approximate location of his old locker.

Another Council member, Larry Berg, taught band in the building from 1980 to 1983.

“I’m really liking the idea,” Berg said later of converting the 1918 Building to use for City Hall and community space. “I’ve never been in favor of disposing of it, and I think it’s foolish we’re not using it.”

Miller’s report listed funding options for the building’s conversion:

• Using a portion of the city’s gaming revenue, which Mayor Clausie Smith said he figured would come to about $1 million; hold another bond election once the $3.5 million bond for the swimming pool is repaid; increase the sales tax rate significantly, and expand current revenue sources. All the funding options are “several years down the road,” Miller said.

Helin said he would ask council members how they would like to address the space expansion situation and the 1918 Building at the Council’s next meeting, and have the item listed on the agenda of the meeting after that.

Post a comment

BonnerSprings.com doesn't necessarily condone the comments here, nor does it review every post.
Read our full policy. Also, read about banned accounts and harassing comments.

Requires free BonnerSprings.com registration.