The 108,000 square foot building that holds the Lincoln City city hall and the library was formerly an indoor mall. Many of the rooms are empty, including a former restaurant upstairs while other parts of the building are deteriorating. (Shayla Escudero/Lincoln Chronicle)

By ANGELA NEBEL/Lincoln Chronicle

LINCON CITY — Lincoln City voters face a complicated issue on the Nov. 3 general election ballot that will demonstrate whether the city has adequately made its case for a major investment to address the deteriorating City Hall and Driftwood Public Library building.

Measure 21-243 asks voters whether they favor the issuing bonds up to $58 million “to provide a new city hall/library.” The question does not outline a specific solution, but instead asks voters to authorize the investment.

If successful, city leaders will continue to consider three options that range from major renovation of the existing building to construction of a new facility at a different location.

If the measure fails, city leaders must grapple with how to address expensive maintenance and safety concerns at the existing city hall.

Constructed more than 40 years ago, the building has not aged well, according to city manager Daniel Hunter, who said that some of the choices related to building materials unsuitable to a coastal environment have contributed to the problem. Single-pane steel frame windows, iron anchors for fire suppression systems, and unsealed wood for construction were some of the examples Hunter referenced.

“All of those things for a coastal environment do not make long-term sense,” Hunter said in an interview with the Lincoln Chronicle. “We’re trying to find solutions for decisions made long ago and unfortunately it has come to this for the community.”

Building deterioration and costly deferred maintenance aren’t the only problems Hunter and the Lincoln City city council are trying to address. Parking limitations, security concerns, and the size of the structure compared to what the city needs have also been part of ongoing discussions.

Ultimately, city leaders and consultants arrived at three possible solutions:

Option 1: Renovate the existing building, at a potential cost of $31.5 million;
Option 2: Redevelop the existing site with a new building at a cost of $45.1 million, or;
Option 3: Construct a new building at a new site, complete with road and utility development, at an estimated cost of $58 million.

At town hall meetings in June and July, city residents were invited to learn about the options and polled on their preference. At both meetings, the majority of those polled favored option two, redevelop the existing site. But polling on the city’s “Engage Lincoln City” website supported option three, construct a new building elsewhere.

While city officials have conceptual drawings and budgets for each of the options, they opted not to identify a specific option for the ballot proposal.

“Council wanted to get the public’s input on three options and then ultimately go with the dollar amount that would allow us to do any of those three,” Hunter said. “Presumably we will have additional public meetings and public input on what location they would prefer and what development they would prefer, assuming it passes.”

**The building that holds Lincoln City’s city hall is also connected to a McKay’s Market, which has rust and water damage — an issue from the city’s parking lot on the top floor of the building.** (Shayla Escudero/Lincoln Chronicle)

Not a unanimous decision

It was by a 4-3 vote at the July 27 council meeting that the determination was made to present voters with the larger amount of $58 million.

Mayor Susan Wahlke said she voted to put the larger amount on the ballot “because I felt it gave us the most options” and felt some urgency to put the issue before voters.

“We wanted to get it on the ballot soon in order to get things moving,” Wahlke told the Chronicle. “We think that the building may not be habitable for a whole lot more years.”

Having said that, Wahlke referenced the benefit of hindsight saying it is now her opinion that the council should have presented a specific plan.

“People are more apt to support something that is tangible, rather than multiple ideas,” she said. “We needed to get it to the voters quickly, but I think we should have made some decisions before we sent it to the voters. That’s my personal opinion.”

If it passes, the ballot measure authorizes the city to sell bonds at an amount up to $58 million, with an estimated property tax rate of $1.07 per $1,000 of assessed value. As an example, a property assessed at $300,000 would have an annual tax increase of $321. Those figures apply only if the city pursues the full $58 million.

“I have pointed out to people, and people have pointed out to me, that it is up to $58 million,” Wahlke said. “If it passes, we do not need to sell $58 million worth of bonds. We can choose a lesser amount. It is that ‘up to’ language that I think is very important.”

In August, as part of the city’s urban renewal plan, 44 acres of vacant forestland were purchased and — if option three is selected — would become the site of the new city hall and library. Situated east of U.S. Highway 101 between Southeast 23^rd Drive and Southeast 32^nd Street, Hunter said $17 million of the $58 million project cost would be spent on developing road and utilities to the site.

“In the urban renewal plan, there is a plan to house a water reservoir for public works to provide water capacity for the Nelscott area,” Hunter said. “It is also beneficial as a north-south route on top of the hill and away from the tsunami inundation zone.”

In looking at all options, city officials must also consider what would happen with the existing city hall building if a new one were to be constructed elsewhere. Hunter said that is a difficult question to answer, in part because of the building’s physical connection to the structure that houses McKay’s Market. The city manager said he has had a few conversations with McKay’s management but is still waiting for more information on how they would like to proceed.

“Ideally I would sell it for what the market says it will sell for and we’ll have a developer that is agreeable to maintain McKay’s grocery store where it is and they will enter a lease agreement with McKay’s and everybody will walk away happy,” Hunter said — and then adding “that’s probably not going to happen.”

Lincoln City businessman Bruce Polvi has challenged the project in a number of public forums and said the question of what happens at the existing site is one of his primary concerns.

“My wife and my two sons and I drove up and down Highway 101 the other night and counted all the vacant spots,” Polvi told the Chronicle, putting the number at more than 50. “We’ve got a lot of vacancies in town. My big fear is what is the city is going to do with that 110,000 square foot building.”

Polvi said he has asked the question at meetings but hasn’t received a satisfactory answer.

“They talk about selling it to an investor but if it is in as bad a condition as they report, I don’t know how successful that will be,” he said.

Polvi owns multiple parcels in Lincoln City, including property directly across the street from the current City Hall.

Confusion and a Plan B

Making the process of gaining voter support for the project more complicated was an internal mixup over the language included in the explanatory statement that appears with the ballot measure. Earlier this month, after the voter’s pamphlets were already printed, the City Council voted to correct the language, striking the terms “at an alternative site” from paragraphs one and three.

“We are trying to get the word out,” said Wahlke. “The language that we changed was ‘on an alternative site’ which we felt locked us into the most expensive option. We, as a council, have not made that decision.”

If the measure passes, Hunter said it would take two to three years to construct whichever option is ultimately selected. According to the ballot language, the city will establish a “citizen oversight committee” to aid in the process.

“If we get it passed, then probably shortly after the first of the year we would start having town halls and having contractors presenting different ideas and listening to the public’s ideas of what they want out of city hall development and where they would prefer it to be,” Hunter said.

Hunter is actively working on a “Plan B” if the measure fails, taking into account the continued deterioration and the escalating cost of operating the the city hall/library building and whether city offices can continue to function in that space. He also expects city officials to “re-evaluate our approach on this one” and then put the issue before voters again in May.

“My recommendation at this point would be to have the city hire a consultant who will look at the various options and likelihood of getting something passed and help city council put a finer point on it,” Hunter said. “The longer we wait to do it, the higher the cost will get to do any one of those options.”

While the mayor agreed that a return to the ballot in the spring is the likely backup plan should the measure fail, she remains hopeful that work can begin sooner.

“I hope the voters realize the predicament we’re in and will help us to resolve an unsafe building,” Wahlke said.