Parking at potential city hall? Staff answering questions Wednesday

POCATELLO – Those concerned about the possibility of relocating Pocatello City Hall — and where they would park — can weigh in and ask questions at an upcoming open house.

The open house will take place on Wednesday in the council chambers at 911 North 7th Avenue from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Not only will people have the chance to get their questions answered; they’ll also have the chance to walk through the rest of city hall, which is normally closed to the public.

“We’re going to talk about how City Hall might fit into the space of the federal building … and we’re going to talk a little bit about the why. Why are we doing it? Why are we looking at it? What are our constraints here in this current facility?” said Planning and Development Director Brent McLane.

The city and VCBO Architecture are progressing through the information gathering and early analysis phase of preliminary research, McLane said. He also clarified that final decisions have not been made on the potential move.

“We’re really (still) in the preliminary phases of all of this,” McLane said.

So far, all of the department interviews have been completed, where they learned about the current space they have available, what their current and future growth needs are, as well as concerns or wish-list items related to potentially moving city hall to the Federal Building.

The consultants have turned that feedback into a spreadsheet showing the space requirements of city departments and the square footage needs for the future growth of city hall. They’re using that to test how the Federal Building would meet or not meet those needs.

The firm has also created a 3D spatial analysis to help visualize how departments could be laid out in the building.

At the open house, city staff will be available to answer questions about the current city hall, the Federal Building and what a move would entail. Staff are planning to talk a lot about the parking situation.

“I think parking is going to be one of the hot topics that we’ll talk about,” McLane said.

In addition to street parking in front of the building, there is a parking lot behind it with around 60 stalls.

There’s also a parking lot with about 35 stalls adjacent to the federal building, and more than 90 stalls in the lot next to the building.

When council members approved the preliminary research in May, Mayor Mark Dahlquist brought up the possibility of leasing additional parking with surrounding property owners.

McLane also confirmed for EastIdahoNews.com that the city had discussed the possibility of turning the loading bay on the northern side of the building into accessible parking spaces. And that they could also put accessible spaces directly in front of the building.

“There’s a lot of options,” McLane said.

When attendees are finished asking questions, or before they do, they’ll be able to walk through the entrance to the rest of city hall. Much of this office space is separated by cubicle dividers because the space was originally designed to be retail space.

“They’ll be able to wander around and see what the space is like. We’ll have staff members positioned throughout the building, if people have questions or get lost,” McLane said.

Public discussions on the potential city hall move and the findings of the preliminary research are expected to begin in the fall, possibly in November.

“I don’t know if (the city council will) make a decision at that time, but that’s when the discussion about whether we’re really moving this forward will probably start happening,” McLane said.