12b. Senior Housing/City Hall Expansion, Set Next Work Session DateI I
CITY OF gab
CHANHASSEN
690 COULTER DRIVE • P.O. BOX 147 • CHANHASSEN, MINNESOTA 55317
(612) 937 -1900 • FAX (612) 937 -5739
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TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: Don Ashworth, City Manager
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DATE: September 6, 1994
SUBJ: Senior Housing/City Hall Expansion, Set Next Work Session Date e
Springsted is nearing completion of a proforma fdr a senior housing project using occupancy
rates, construction costs, site costs, etc., specific to' Chanhassen. Additionally, the City
Attorney's office is nearing completion of a draft purchase agreement for the site itself. Our
Senior Commission visited the St. Therese Senior Housing Project - -a facility built by Frank
' Dunbar approximately 6 years ago. The senxos are Very excited about the possibility of
having a facility in Chanhassen available to -them. St4ff will be completed with the work
assignments given to us by the city council by whateve% date is selected by the council for
our next work session.
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The only phrase worse than "referendum" has to be "city' all expansion." But I need to do
something. I have six inspectors wlio are working out of free desks. I find it difficult to
understand how park and recreatton gets as much accomplished as they do. Someone has to
get up to allow someone else to go to the bathroom. The cY set next to engineering which
previously housed filing cabinets was divided in two to provide space for Diane Desotelle.
We have since then - -divided the acl set Y a ain, z provide a i ' for Bill Bement. The problems
associated with this past,
year' auddt rePvrt lateness of such, .and the s uditor
disagreements can primarily be traced back to the lack of adequate staffing to, provide work
efforts desired b the auiiitorsa As you will recall, Cliff Hoffman ' "
y y (Delo� and Touche) made
a strong plea for additional staff ' fie`= finance depagmept as p rrtlo last year's audit report.
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A position was cut out of the budgetary process early, but such was not related to our being
able to afford the position. Instead the decision idt to seek additional staffing simply
recognized that there was no spot to seat an 44, onal person. i would anticipate that Mr.
Hoffman's presentation during the work session Monday evening will include a statement that
he would just as soon not be the auditor of record for 1994 if the city cannot make a
t commitment to provide staffing adequate to close the books in an acceptable and timely
fashion. Ironically, if we were to pick the process back up, it would be 1996 before we were
able to move into any remodeled addition.
MEMORANDUM
Mayor and City Council
September 6, 1994
Page 2
■ The primary hinderance in our ability to revisit the city hall expansion issue has been the
general desire to complete the Vision 2002 process. That work has now been completed and
reviewed by the city council. The newsletter should be in the mail in the next two weeks and
the telephone survey seeking citizen reaction to the "vision" should be completed within a
month. The comments I have received in regards to the vision for City Center Park have
1 been very positive. Concepts which were most strongly endorsed:
- Ensuring that city hall maintained a presence on main street (purchase lots in front of
city hall);
Establishment of a park -like setting in front of city hall via removing existing Coulter
Drive;
Having City Center act as a hub for a multitude of city activities including city hall
r expansion, library, senior center, council chambers /community rooms and community
events. This concept encourages joint use of facilities, i.e. the library story hour
programs occurring in the council chambers, maintenance
' equipment/personnel/gathering point for events like Septemberfest, etc.
' The above goals represent basic tenets as to how we wish to see this site developed into the
future. Accordingly, they represent the concepts which an architect can use in attempting to
determine how city hall expansion may occur to achieve each of the points noted above. The
work completed by HGA and Steffan and Associates basically shows that there is sufficient
room on this site to accommodate future expansions of the library, senior center, as well as
proposed future expansions of city hall itself. In light of the fact that HGA's tentative
' concepts were not that enthusiastically received, I would suggest taking a different approach
as it would deal with examining how city hall might be expanded. Specifically, in discussing
how various architectural firms might approach the issue of how expansion plans might be
developed, I was quite intrigued with the approach suggested by Korsunsky Krank and
Erickson (KKE). Specifically, they typically approach an expansion process by carrying out a
"space needs analysis." That process would then be followed by a "bubble art" process which
' would attempt to match existing building areas with not only the current work area needed by
each activity center, but how those spaces might then accommodate future expansions.
Finally, a specific plan would be developed would match the alternative ways that the existing
and new expansion area might be used concentrating on the usage pattern finally selected in
the "bubble art" process. The culmination of the process would be a concept plan which
could then be developed by any architect that the city might choose. Typically, if a firm like
' KKE has taken you through the first processes, they would have the inside track in the final
selection process. My point is really one that by using KKE for the early analysis process,
the city would not be locking itself into using that firm to actually prepare plans and specs
' and build the facility. So as to ensure that the city council would have some information to
work on as a part of a future work session, I would like to receive the council's blessing of
Mayor and City Council
September 6, 1994
Page 3
moving into the "space needs analysis" process so as to give us some type of an idea as to
what level of expansion may be required and how the space needs analysis would relate to
the existing building and potential expansion.
As stated at the beginning of this memorandum, I would hope that the city council would be
in a position to select a work session date to review the information which you requested of `
staff in regards to senior housing as well as to review the initial results of a space needs
analysis.