Talks Set for Tuesday on City's Old Town Administrative Offices

More than 60 employees of the city of Novato will need a home sometime soon, and the topic will be brought to the microphone at on Tuesday night.

The Novato City Council is having a work session about the tentative plans for a new city administrative office building to be constructed on an existing parking lot on Machin Avenue between Grant and De Long avenues.

Since it’s a work session, no formal action is being taken by the council. In fact, who knows if any formal action will ever be taken because the project depends entirely on Gov. Jerry Brown’s in more than 400 cities statewide, including Novato.

If legislation is drawn up soon and approved in Sacramento, Novato’s plan for a new home base goes up in flames.

“My biggest fear right now is that redevelopment issue goes through,” City Manager Michael Frank said. “That would put an end to this project because there won’t be money to repay the general fund. That’s why we’re working quickly to stay ahead of that legislation.”

The Novato Redevelopment Agency, which oversees the transformation of blighted or undeveloped areas into productive economic areas as well as affordable housing issues, owes about $15 million to the city’s general fund. The city staff has long counted on that pot of money to pay for a new administrative office building if the council were to approve it.

Since those funds are not readily sitting in a bank, bonds would have to be issued to round up the cash for the construction project.

Most of Novato’s non-maintenance employees have worked out of an office complex at since 2005, an arrangement that is costing the city about $700,000 per year. The building was leased after a cluster of city-owned buildings in the Old Town area were declared structurally unsound and red-tagged by the fire marshal. Since then, only one building from that cluster — Novato City Hall — has been renovated and reopened, although no city workers have permanent offices there. Since it reopened in 2008, Novato City Hall at 901 Sherman Ave. is mostly a chamber for public meetings and other events.

Frank said the city is in discussions with a possible sublessor and the owner of the 75 Rowland building, Barker Pacific Group, to rent out space after the city lets go of more employees at the end of June. The City Council approved two-years’ worth of staff reductions in 2009 because of its ongoing budget problems, and the second round of staff cuts is coming up this summer.

On Tuesday the council is expected to receive a status update on a feasibility study it approved on Dec. 6. The study is not expected to be completed until mid- to late March, but the council expects to review office space needs, a geotechnical study of the property and the structure of potential building schemes.

According to a staff report co-written by Frank, the preliminary results show an office space need of 19,000-22,000 square feet. The city leases more than 24,000 square feet at 75 Rowland, but a new building that's not shared with other companies would have to account for a central file storage area, custodial space and possibly other square-footage needs that aren't being leased for now.

It also said soil samples taken at the parking lot show that peers drilled down to bedrock will be recommended because of weak soils that are subject to settling. The tests also showed high moisture content and shallow groundwater levels.

Several firms have been hired to provide structural engineering and architectural layout reports, and those will be unveiled during the work session.

Councilwoman Jeanne MacLeamy, an architect by trade, said she was not surprised by the initial findings in the study, including the instability of the soil on Machin. The situation was the same with the City Hall renovation, she said. If plans move forward, she said the size and scope of a new building in relationship to the surrounding structures — some might call it the Millworks Effect — would be a key consideration as would parking.

"What I'm hearing, at least from people who come to council meetings and reach out to us, is that a lot of people are excited about a downtown civic center," she said. "When I've spoken to people about why we aren't buying other buildings to accommodate the city staff, they often understand once we've explained the situation. But some agree, some don't agree. I think when people really see what our situation is, we'll get more support. Right now we're just trying to leave no stone left unturned so we can show we've done due diligence."

The city said it’s too early for the council to nail down the exterior look of the building, visual impacts in the neighborhood, parking issues and overall costs of the project without the main report completed, but the public will be invited to participate in the discussion Tuesday.

The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. at Novato City Hall.