The City Council Wednesday approved a $1.9-million renovation of its meeting chambers that will more than triple the room’s current seating capacity, upgrade the facility’s audiovisual capacity and offer a more comfortable setting for members of the public doing business at the former City Hall headquarters, according to City staff and Council members.
The five-member Council voted unanimously to approve the upgrade project.
The upgrades to the chambers at 17555 Peak Ave. will include a seating capacity of up to 280, three projection screens for the audience, remodeled bathrooms and a new audiovisual booth and related equipment, according to City staff.
The Council chambers currently only seat a maximum capacity of 82, City staff said. Several Council meetings this year have drawn standing-room-only crowds who have spilled into a room adjacent to the meeting hall, which used to house City Hall offices but is now empty.
The chambers renovation project would expand the meeting room into this unused section of the building, according to City staff. Significant interior structural improvements will be required to safely house the larger crowds.
The Council has been mulling the chambers upgrade project since before August 2012, when the city hired Weston Miles Architects to produce conceptual design options for the project.
The architects presented three options to the Council Wednesday, and the Council accepted the most extravagant option. The other choices were for a 140-seat capacity hall at an estimated cost of about $1.6 million, and a 115-seat chambers for about $850,000.
Council members Wednesday explained while 280 seats might not be needed immediately for meetings, the purpose of the project is to give the City the ability to serve the public long into the future.
“I think we need to look at (the 280-seat option) and not have to do another remodel 10 years down the road,” Councilwoman Marilyn Librers said.
Council members have been hesitant about the cost of the project since they started exploring a potential chambers renovation project. In July, the Council rejected previous bids from contractors on the project because they wanted to see if staff could find a way to reduce the costs. The bid for a 280-seat chambers at that time was about $1.7 million.
However, with the cost estimate increasing yet again on Wednesday the Council was convinced that they would not be able to find a lower cost, partially due to industry-wide increasing construction costs.
With the Council’s blessing, City staff will next solicit new construction bids for the project.
An added benefit of the highest-capacity chamber proposal is it could provide the City with the best opportunity to rent the room out to private groups or other public agencies.
“If we can do it in a way that might return some of the investment, that’s a consideration for us,” Councilman Larry Carr said after the meeting.
Financing for the project is proposed from a variety of City funds that are supported by fuel sales tax, facility user fees, special revenues, developer-financed impact fees and other revenues, according to City staff.
City Manager Steve Rymer said most of the design work has already been done for the project, and staff will try to solicit bids and award contracts for the chamber upgrade by the end of this year. He estimated the upgrade will be complete by May 2014.
