Ground could break on a new city hall building in Armstrong as early as 2021.
Council has twice discussed conceptual plans for an estimated $4-million facility to be built on city-owned property on Bridge Street, across from the Armstrong Spallumcheen Museum and Art Gallery.
“If we go forward, we’ll have proper drawings done and proper cost estimate,” Mayor Chris Pieper said. “We are strictly in the planning stages.”
The current city hall is more than 100 years old.
The draft plans presented to council are for a two-storey structure that includes council chambers nearly tripling in size from the present 520 square feet to 1,454 sq. ft. Other council-specific items include a council room off chambers, storage and a meeting room, none of which presently exist, and the mayor’s office would nearly double in size from approximately 120 sq. ft. to 212 sq. ft.
Three meeting/conference rooms would be built, two on the main floor, one on the second. There would be at least 12 offices built for current and future staff, a clerical area and a community hall area to be used for rentals or by community groups.
An emergency operations centre would be included to allow for faster deployment of resources during an actual emergency, as well as operational and staff areas.
An elevator would be installed to make the facility fully handicap accessible.
“There have been lots of questions from council on the proposed building,” said Pieper, adding the city hasn’t figured out where to get the money from yet.
The city has the ability to borrow the money and go forward with building without having to go through a referendum process.
“It’s a lot of money, we realize that,” Pieper said.
Asked what would become of the old city hall building, Pieper said council passed a motion to have the building and property appraised.
READ MORE: Armstrong city hall turns 100
READ MORE: City hall debates city hall’s future
roger@vernonmorningstar.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.