Dateline Colleyville: August 20, 2001 6:32 PM

City Moves Forward with New City Hall and Library

After years of waiting, Colleyville residents will soon see tangible progress in the construction of a library and new city hall.  The city expects to award bids in December 2001 with a start date of January 2002.  Colleyville's city hall facilities have been located in at least four different locations over the years. The library's inception came during the planning for the state Sesquicentennial celebration in the mid-1980's.

Click on image for larger picture.

While the city's residential development has been top of the line for several decades now, the ability to provide public facilities has been limited.  Many residents don't realize that Colleyville did not officially become a city until 1956, and city taxes were not assessed until the early 1970's when it became necessary to purchase the public water supply that had previously been privately owned.  The first city hall was located in Colleyville's original fire station, which was located where Village Park Drive now intersects Highway 26.  Later a new facility was built for the fire station and city hall on Bransford Road.  Prior to moving to its present location, which was previously a church, the city hall was located in the old Pleasant Run School, now an abandoned building at the southeast corner of Church Street and Pleasant Run Road.  

Site Plan
Click on image for larger picture.

With limited resources available, municipal facilities have taken a back seat to other amenities desired by the citizens.  Decisions were made to provide new fire stations and park improvements prior to committing funds to other needs.  The Community Center, opened in 1998, was also a product of the Sesquicentennial efforts.  Community fund-raisers provided the initial seed money for both the Community Center and library.  In the last few years decisions were made which enabled the city to begin construction on the new justice center, library and city hall.  Originally the library and city hall both were to be located near the Community Center.  However, a decision was made over two years ago to move the library to The Village, a retail/office/residential development located off Pleasant Run Road just west of Highway 26.  Within the last year a controversial decision was made to also move the city hall to the same site.   

First Level Floor Plans
Click on image for larger picture.

The principals involved in the design of the new city hall and library, Brinkley Sargent Architects, F & S Partners, and Kendall Landscape Architecture, made presentations at the city council's priority setting workshop on June 29, 2001.  The renderings provided at that meeting are attached to this article.  They include the elevations, site plan, and floor plans for the three levels.  Hal Sargent made the initial presentation describing the final plans and highlighted the features of the site and buildings.  The new site presented some challenges in the beginning because an attempt was made to stay with the conceptual ideas developed for the original Town Center site.  Click here for renderings of the original Town Center site. However, that idea was quickly abandoned and a plan was developed specifically for the new site.  One concession did have to be made due to tighter available land area.  A portion of the parking facility had to be pushed into the City Park land area.   

Second Level Floor Plans
Click on image for larger picture.

Views of Main Street and City Park will be visible from the Mediterranean-styled facilities.  While the City Hall will be the tallest structure in The Village at 65', it is not going to be visible from Highway 26.  The new council chambers on the third level will have seating for 124, and the council work area will contain a kitchen and sitting room.  The library will contain 24,000 total square feet, with 12,000 on the first floor being completed.  The upper level, separated from the city hall offices by a loggia, will be left open and used for future expansion.  

Third Level Floor Plans
Click on image for larger picture.

Following the architect's presentation at the work session Mayor Donna Arp questioned him about the additional expenses incurred during the initial stages of construction of the new justice center, located near the original site for the library and city hall.  Groundwater present in the soil at that site has required that the piers be cased at an additional cost of $200,000.  The presence of this groundwater was cited as a reason for moving the city hall to the Village location, according to Arp.  However, Sargent responded that while the original soil test for the justice center site did not show groundwater, the soil test for the new city hall site did.  Therefore, costs for encasing the piers is included in the budget for the new city hall site.  

North, South and West Elevations
Click on image for larger picture.

HAVE COMMENTS ABOUT THIS OR OTHER STORIES?  
SEND AN EMAIL TO THE EDITORS
Comments will be posted on Editor Emails unless otherwise requested.