Plans for expanding City Hall stay on schedule, officials say
By Barbara Arntsen
Published in News on June 18, 2004 1:58 PM
City officials learned Thursday that plans to expand and renovate Goldsboro's city hall are on target.
Partin & Hobbs Architects is designing the $5 million expansion, which is scheduled to go out for construction bids in December. The two-phase project should be completed within two years.
The proposal consists of two buildings, preservation of the historic building, and a new 30,000-square-foot building that would be connected by a bridge.
The architects recommended that the annex building be torn down, because it's not worthy of renovation and has no historic value.
The new addition will be set back from the historic building, so the historic structure would dominate. The addition will be similar in style to City Hall, but it won't be an imitation.
Setting the new building back will also provide room for a plaza with a fountain, and a pedestrian walkway will separate the two buildings.
The second-story bridge will be encased in glass.
Phase I includes the construction of the new addition and of a 73-space parking lot on the east side of the complex. The first phase will cost about $3.5 million.
Phase II includes the renovation and restoration of the first and second floors of City Hall, plus demolition of the annex. The bridge and additional parking lot will also be built during the second phase. This phase is estimated to cost $1.5 million.
The statutes of "Liberty" and "Justice" on the roof of the old building will be restored and made waterproof.
Grimsely Hobbs updated the council's expansion project steering committee Thursday about the design work. City Councilmen Chuck Allen, Jimmy Bryan and Charles Williams are on the committee.
The council first saw the plans for the new city hall during its February retreat. Since then Hobbs sent out a survey to city department heads, asking for their input.
There were a few minor changes to the interior layout of the offices based on that input, but otherwise the building has remained the same.
City Manager Richard Slozak said that the city also considered the needs of the public.
One objective of the design is to keep as much open space as possible inside. "We're using cubicles and work stations," Slozak said. "If the city needs to expand later, walls won't have to be knocked out."
Concern about security was something else the city considered.
"We're setting up security points on the first and second floors," Slozak said. "I'm not saying we'll issue badges, but we'll have identification of people coming in. We want it secure."