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Letter to the editor

City plans to raze public works building

The decision is part of an overall plan to build a new City Hall.

By SHEILA MULLANE ESTRADA, Times Correspondent
Published November 7, 2007

BELLEAIR BEACH- Planning for construction of a new City Hall and community center moved sharply ahead Monday as the City Council agreed to tear down an adjacent public works building.

The current public works building is in the footprint of the proposed City Hall.

Also, responding to neighborhood complaints, the council decided it will rebuild the public works building and not transfer its operations to a single-family home on Cedar Drive.

Instead, the two-bedroom home, which the city bought in 2005, will be used as temporary quarters for administrative city offices while the new City Hall is under construction.

Eventually, it will be torn down, and the property will be used for parking or added to a city park that now abuts Cedar Drive and the Belleair Beach Causeway.

The council also established a special $3.6-million reserve account that will be used for all transactions relating to City Hall construction.

Last month, the council approved a $168,000 redesign aimed at cutting the originally projected $3-million cost. A new title search, utility location and survey needed for that redesign has been finished.

When the city decided to shut down its Police Department earlier this year, the council considered moving the smaller building to the east side of the municipal complex to take advantage of views of the Intracoastal Waterway.

That plan ran into problems when a previously unknown Verizon easement was discovered under the proposed new site.

The city's architect, Ward Frizsolowski of Harvard Jolly, has submitted a site plan that places the new building slightly more to the east of the current City Hall. The new public works building will be to the rear of the new City Hall.

The present 1950s-era City Hall is expected to be torn down by spring. Construction of the new City Hall is expected to take about a year.

During construction, city records will be stored, and the city manager, city clerk and possibly up to another half-dozen city employees will work out of the Cedar Drive home.

Just how that will work has yet to be determined. The current City Hall has about 8,038 square feet. The home has only 858 square feet.

City Manager Nancy McCollum said Tuesday the home's 660-square-foot garage may be converted to work space.

The City Hall building committee will meet next on Nov. 27 at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall. Architectural plans for the new building are expected to be discussed.

[Last modified November 6, 2007, 22:27:59]