City Hall Remodel & Expansion

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.

Full details available at www.ci.florence.or.us/citymanager/city-hall-services-return-remodeled-city-hall-february-6-2019.

View the City Hall Remodel Live Video and Time Lapse Photos

In 2017, Florence City Hall marked its 50^th year at the current location. Completed in 1967, the current facility has served many purposes throughout its 50 years, but has received very little modernization. Over the past two years, the City has been assessing the current building and designing a remodel and expansion. On December 18, 2017, the City Council awarded the construction contract for the City Hall Remodel and Expansion project to Par-Tech Construction in the amount of $2,460,900. 

The total project cost is estimated at $2,992,900 and is outlined in the table to the right.

During construction, set to begin mid-January, City staff will relocate to other facilities temporarily. This move will impact where residents receive City services during 2018. Below is an outline of where City Hall services and activities will occur during construction, beginning January 8^th.

Public Works Facility (2675 Kingwood Street)
Monday – Friday: 8 am – 12 pm; 1 pm – 4 pm

• Utility Billing & Finance
• Business & Liquor Licenses
• Community Development
  • Building
  • Planning
• Code Enforcement

Florence Events Center (715 Quince Street)
Unless otherwise published.

• City Council Meetings
• Planning Commission Meetings
• Florence Urban Renewal Agency Meetings
• City Committee Meetings
• Other City Events & Meetings

Project Background

The current City Hall facility is 50 years old and has served many purposes during its lifetime. The building has received very little modernization over the years and is in need of several maintenance updates. The existing floor plan is very inefficient and insufficient to provide the desired level of service as it is presently 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 requirements.
• 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 current design includes a remodel of the current 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 is to tie into the ReVision Florence project and to set an example for redevelopment in the area.

Construction is set to begin mid-January and will last for approximately eleven months. Staff will move out of City Hall and transition services to other locations beginning the week of January 8^th.