Renovation planned in 2023
The long range plan for the current City Hall in Platte City is to use the structure as a multi-purpose community building.
To renovate the current City Hall building at Fourth and Main from its current usage to a community center, the city believes it will take $400,000 for the project. To fund it, the City of Platte City is hoping to acquire a partnership grant.
The current City Hall building has served in that capacity since 1989. Prior to that, the building housed the Platte City Post Office.
As exclusively reported in The Landmark in December, the city has purchased the property/buildings at 224-228 Marshall Road for the construction of a combined police station City Hall building. The city anticipates moving into its new facility in the summer of 2022.
So the renovation of the existing City Hall is penciled in as a 2022-23 project, with construction taking place in mid-to-late 2023, about one year after the planned opening of the new police station/City Hall.
For the renovation of the existing City Hall, the city will be seeking a Platte County Parks and Recreation Partnership Grant.
DJ Gehrt, city administrator, says the proposed grant requests $320,000 from the county program. The city would put in $80,000 in matching funds, he said.
The renovation of the existing 3,500 sq. ft. City Hall would turn the building into a facility that would supplement and eventually replace the city-owned Civic Center Community Room and city-owned Lions Club Community Building.
The project would include:
*Renovating the interior to create one or more larger meeting/community use spaces
*Make the building fully ADA accessible.
*Replace the roof, which was installed in 1993.
*Improve insulation and energy efficiency.
*Renovating the exterior to include adding windows and increased natural light.
*Improve bathrooms and the kitchen.
*Improve energy efficiency with such items as low flow plumbing, smart lights and environmental controls and high efficiency appliances and systems.
*Replace/improve buildings systems including HVAC (one of the furnaces is malfunctioning this week, see related story), air filtration, electrical wiring, exterior lighting and security systems.
The eventual closure of the existing Lions Club structure would result in the Lions Club being granted the right to conduct two meetings per month in the new community building through 2044 at no cost to the club, Gehrt said.
“The other current community users will be provided an opportunity to use the new community building at a reduced cost,” Gehrt added.
Funds donated to the city by the Platte County Memorial Park Association are available to assist in covering construction or renovation costs of a city community building, Gehrt pointed out.
“The initial budget for the project assigns these donated funds to purchase furniture, appliances, kitchen utensils and audio visual equipment,” the city administrator remarked.
The Platte County Parks and Recreation Partnership Grant is a new program, and details of the funding, review and awards process is not fully known at this time.
“If the grant is awarded, the city will independently fund final design, project manual and bid specifications in 2022-23,” Gehrt said.
This grant application is one of two the city is sending to the county. The city’s other grant application to the county program is a request for funding to complete Phase 1-B of the Rising Star Park, which is being developed as a splash park area.