Overland Park is mulling options for a new, larger city hall that would be more centrally located and potentially put more city departments under the same roof.
During an Overland Park City Council Committee of the Whole meeting Monday evening, councilmembers and city staff shared broad consensus that something new is required. However, no specific action has been taken, and exactly what it might look like remains unclear.
Based on a 48-page planning study completed by PGAV Architects, the prevailing recommendation from city staff that the city council supports at this stage is to acquire an existing building somewhere in the city and renovate it to match Overland Park’s city staff needs.
Overland Park city staff running out of room
Currently, city staff work out of facilities across Overland Park, including the main administrative office facilities at Overland Park City Hall and the Myron Scafe building across the street near Antioch Road and Santa Fe Drive. Combined, the buildings offer about 91,500 square feet of office space.
A new facility would need to be at least 165,000 square feet, possibly closer to 185,000, PGAV’s study suggests. Acquiring a building and renovating it to fit the city’s bill would likely cost between $105 million and $138 million, according to initial projections.
In addition to the space needs, city hall and the Scafe buildings are both aging and becoming obsolete, said Assistant City Manager Jack Messer. City hall was built in 1967 and expanded in 1986, while Scafe was built in 1975 — the facility houses some city offices and is also still a police station.
Over the years, issues have emerged about accessibility, technology and aging building systems, among other things. For instance, city hall has just one elevator that has broken down at times.
The arrangement is also just not very customer service friendly, City Manager Lori Curtis Luther said, noting that some resident-focused divisions are in different buildings. That means a resident might show up to city hall for help with a specific thing only to find the office is hard to find in the building or located in an entirely different facility.
“One of the highest priorities I have is that we could centralize those functions that the residents need to interact with so that that experience is much more seamless and is more focused on those we’re here to serve,” she said.
More city hall options have been pondered
- In the 1990s, the city had discussed placing a new city administration building on the W. Jack Sanders Justice Center off Metcalf Avenue near 125th Street.
- More recent studies have suggested placing a new city hall at 95th Street and Metcalf or even building it alongside an expansion to the Overland Park Convention Center off of College Boulevard and Nall Avenue.
- Any of those other options would come with larger costs, possibly pushing $185 million.
- Messer said renovating the existing facilities isn’t considered a viable option because there’s no room to expand them beyond their current footprints.
JoCo cities are revisiting their city halls
- Prairie Village has started discussing options for a new city hall facility. Conversations for that are ongoing.
- Olathe recently earmarked funds to renovate its city hall as part of a wider facilities upgrade project with a $7.5 million price tag. At the same time, the city is starting to consider its long-term city office needs.
- Lenexa relocated its city hall in 2017 to be within the larger, mixed-use City Center development, a more central location in the city.
- Fairway also moved its city hall in 2018 to a renovated building.
Next steps for Overland Park:
- Plans for the future of Overland Park City Hall remain ambiguous, and the city council will need to give more direction on the project before making a final decision.
- Still, some details need to be figured out, such as financing options, a new city hall location and potentially locating community amenities on the same site.
- The city will eventually have to place the project in the five-year capital improvement plan as well.
- The exact timeline for all of this is unclear.
- It is also unclear, at this point, what would become of the current city hall and Scafe buildings.
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