Town Hall up for an upgrade

Chapel Hill Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt has an ambitious plan for an overhaul of Town Hall after this summer’s flooding caused heavy damage to the building.

The first floor of the Town Hall is already in need of large renovations due to the damage. The Town Council has been unable to hold its meetings at its usual location, and the first floor has been closed since June.

Kleinschmidt said he wants to turn the damage into an opportunity.

“The council needs to decide now,” he said. “It’s our goal to get back into the first floor by next August and it will take this long to get it done.”

He said the town is well-positioned to improve the Town Hall — an objective the council has had for years.

“If we’re going to spend all that money then we should meet other objectives as well,” Kleinschmidt said.

“We can forestall other upgrades to the Town Hall for some time if we can make these changes, now the Town Council has been hearing for years that doing business in Town Hall is difficult.”

The “Reimagine Town Hall” proposal will affect all three stories of the building.

The manager and council offices would move from the second floor to the renovated third floor.

The business management department would move from the first floor to a newly renovated space on the second floor.

If the plans for renovation are approved, they would result in the construction of a new council chamber as well as moving the permits office to the first floor.

“I am excited about the potential to make some changes to the Town Hall,” said council member Lee Storrow, who supports the Reimagine proposal.

The council can also opt to only repair the damage on the first floor and restore the hall to its previous condition.

The difference between restoring Town Hall to its original state and adopting the Reimagine plan is about $430,000, according to a staff proposal.

“The point is that we’re getting about $650,000 from insurance and we can use that insurance money and a few extra thousand dollars to put it back to the way it was, or we could spend an additional $430,000 to accomplish our goals,” Kleinschmidt said.

Kleinschmidt has already contacted an architect — Ken Redfoot, who also worked on the Chapel Hill Public Library redesign — to consult on the Town Hall project.

“Before I went to the council I went to an architect to get the council chamber and first floor back in order,” he said. “I asked him about these other ideas as well about what we can do without absolutely breaking the bank.”

Council member Jim Ward said reimagining Town Hall could work for Chapel Hill.

“It is useful for us to take advantage of this opportunity to do more than just repair the damage that was done to the Town Hall this past summer,” he said. “I look forward to some more specific conversations about what the dollar amount might be.”

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