Prairie Village is moving forward with plans for a new city hall — unchanged from a design the previous city council supported before last fall’s elections altered the makeup of the governing body.
During the first discussion of the new city hall facility in 2024, the city council on Tuesday decided to ultimately exclude two proposed changes to a roughly $30 million design that the previous council had asked city staff to explore last last year.
The plan backed by the council calls for a completely new 18,000-square-foot city hall building on the south side of the parking lot outside the current municipal complex. In addition, a new municipal courtroom would be built as an addition to the police department where the current city hall is on the north side of the municipal complex.
No formal action was taken on Tuesday as the discussion happened during the council committee of the whole meeting, but the unanimous vote provided city staff with direction going forward.
The new city council agrees with staff’s recommendations
- City staff recommended against two items to a new city hall plan that the city council asked about on Nov. 6.
- Those additions were to remodel the current council chambers into a courtroom and include underground parking at a new city hall.
- Among other factors outlined in city documents, the additional items each came with a higher cost — another $1 million for the remodeled council chambers and an additional $6 million for the underground parking.
- This means the option the previous city council favored on Nov. 6 remains unchanged.
- With little discussion Tuesday, the new-look city council (with four new members elected in November) unanimously agreed with city staff against including the two items. Councilmember Greg Shelton was absent.
A deeper look at those options
- City Engineer Melissa Prenger said a remodel of the current city hall — rather than completely demolishing and rebuilding it — requires a larger footprint.
- A remodel costs the city an additional $1 million, and reduces the level of eco-friendly Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, standards the city could achieve, she said.
- Underground parking costs an additional $6 million for 20 staff stalls, Prenger said.
- While the city could earn LEED points for a heat island reduction with underground parking, Prenger said, the city could also lose points for the forced air, exhaust and heat requirements that come with underground parking.
- Prairie Village is pursuing a LEED Platinum certification with the new city hall.
Next steps:
- City staff is moving forward with the original proposal with no changes.
- This means there will be surface parking and the current city hall will be demolished and rebuilt into a court room.
Go deeper: New Prairie Village city hall concept takes shape. How much will it cost?
