City Hall Services to Return to Remodeled City Hall February 6, 2019

The City of Florence remodel of City Hall is nearly complete! City Hall services will return to the remodeled facility, located at 250 Hwy 101, on February 6, 2019. During the move back to City Hall, the City appreciates the patience of the Florence community. We are excited to invite the community to see the remodeled and expanded City Hall later in February.

City Service Delivery Moving

City Staff will be transitioning from their temporary locations to City Hall beginning January 30th. During the move, customers can still receive assistance at the Florence Public Works Operations Facility, located at 2675 Kingwood Street. City services and utility payments will continue to be accepted at the main window in Public Works.

The Community Development Department will be closed Tuesday, January 29th, and Friday, January 31st through February 5th, but Community Development staff will be available to provide limited counter assistance at Public Works during the transition. Building inspections will continue as usual on Wednesday, January 30th and Friday, February 1st.

City services including utility billing and finance, business licensing, community development, and code enforcement will be open for business at City Hall on February 6th. The City will maintain some overlap services at the Florence Public Works Operations Facility, located at 2675 Kingwood Street, through the month of February during the transition.

City Hall Open House

The City will host an open house on February 19, 2019, for members of the public to come see the full facility. More information on this event will be distributed in early February.

City Meetings

City Council, Planning Commission, Urban Renewal, and other City Committees will continue to meet at the Florence Events Center through February. The first City Council meeting in the remodeled facility will occur on March 4, 2019.

Project Background

In 2017, Florence City Hall marked its 50th year at the current location. Completed in 1967, the old facility layout served many purposes throughout its 50 years, but had received very little modernization over the years. The previous floor plan was very inefficient and insufficient to provide the desired level of service as it was configured.

In 2015, prior to investing significant dollars in maintenance related items, staff worked with hsr/Waterleaf to conduct a needs assessment of City Hall. During this assessment, the consultants looked at the current facility, the operational needs to provide City services, and the increase in space needs as the population grows. The consultant provided programing analysis on moving City Hall operations to a new location versus remodeling the current location.

In December 2015, the consultants presented their findings on the space needs of City Hall for current and future growth. It was their conclusion that the current site of City Hall has sufficient size and could meet the estimated staffing and space requirements for a population increase of double or more our current size, if remodeled and with an addition added to the west.

Through the goal setting and budget process, the City Council proceeded with the recommended expansion and remodel of the current facility and included it in the adopted City Work Plan. In January 2017, the City Council awarded the bid for architectural services to HGE, Inc. out of Coos Bay. In designing the remodel and expansion of City Hall, there were several key issues that the design concept needed to address to increase the functionality of City Hall. Those included:

• Improved customer service with a single/multi-purpose area for customer interactions.
• Improved safety and security for staff and visitors; reduction of building access points.
• Building accessibility and ADA improvements.
• Improved workspace flow for staff with internal connectivity.
• Improved internal and external meeting spaces.
• Centralized records retention system.
• Updated City Council Chambers with modern technologies.
• Coordination in updates and replacements of items that are currently on the list as maintenance items, i.e. carpeting, siding repair, doorways, etc. 

The outcome of the new design included a remodel of the original City Hall (9,100 square feet) with a 2,400-square foot expansion to the west for a new City Council Chambers and large conference room, totaling about 11,500 square feet. An additional element of the remodel was to tie into the ReVision Florence project and to set an example for redevelopment in the area.

Construction began mid-January 2018 and lasted approximately one year. Par-Tech Construction will continue to finish up a few items over the next month and Florence Public Works will proceed with the landscape plantings through this spring.

For more information, visit http://ci.florence.or.us/citymanager/city-hall-remodel-expansion.