Once a schoolhouse, today the old building at 100 3rd Ave SE houses Pacific’s City Hall chambers and its courtroom.
But those functions and others may move somewhere else in the not-too-distant future, depending in part on what comes out of the Civic Campus Feasibility Study and Master Plan the City has hired Rolluda Architects to complete.
On July 11, the City Council resolved by unanimous vote to pay the Seattle-based firm almost $125,000 to do the work.
Mayor Leanne Guier said the task will be not only to assess the future of the 6,433-square-foot City Hall, which was built in 1928, but also the City’s assets, including its full-time equivalent employees, and to help determine the City’s real needs.
“It’s going to be a full assessment so that we can move forward on planning,” Guier said.
Guier said Rolluda Architects was involved with the expansion and improvements to Pacific’s gymnasium and senior center in recent years.
“We’ve already met with them,” Guier said. “They understand what our needs and assets are. They really understand what we’re looking for and are trying to accomplish.”
She mentioned several changes that could come out of the study and master plan, from possibly moving the public works department to a separate facility to moving the police department to City Hall.
The completed study and master plan will also help the City qualify for vital grants.
“This is going to give us a really good idea of what the City needs,” Guier said.
Once recommendations are made, Guier said, the City will host multiple public meetings to hear what residents have to say.
“This isn’t just going to be the mayor and council making decisions,” she said. “This is going to be a lot of community involvement, and they will help us orchestrate that.”
As the council deliberated July 11, its focus was on City Hall’s future.
“If you’ve been around City Hall for a while, you will see we’re busting at the seams,” said Jim Morgan, public works manager. “This building has many defects.”
Councilmember Justin Newlun shared similar sentiments.
“It’s not going to be too long before this falls apart too far,” he said.
Councilmember Clint Steiger said he had no desire to see any of the funding for the study and master plan spent on making “this building feasible” with a renovation. Morgan assured him a renovation was unlikely.
“It probably will be more cost effective to build something new,” Morgan said.
That does not mean, however, that City Hall is destined for the wrecking ball. Should a new City Hall be constructed, Guier said, the old building “could be repurposed for a lot of different community uses.”
