Larkspur will keep municipal offices at City Hall

Larkspur will not include city offices in its plan to construct a new library.

The City Council voted 3-2 on Wednesday to seek contractors for just a library on the vacant lot at Rose Lane and Doherty Drive. Separately, the city will seek experts to begin planning the rehabilitation of the 109-year-old City Hall at 400 Magnolia Ave., where the city offices and council chambers will remain.

“This is our City Hall, it’s always been our City Hall,” Councilmember Kevin Haroff said as he called for a vote. “I think the community overall wants it to remain City Hall, and we’re just going to need to make that happen.”

Councilmember Catherine Way and Vice Mayor Scot Candell cast the dissenting votes. They agreed that the City Hall building should continue to be designated as a historic structure, but argued that the cost savings and community benefit would be greater if city offices were moved into a new structure in conjunction with the library project.

“We have the economies of scale if we do these projects together,” Candell said. “It just feels like the right thing to do for a community at this time.”

The move is the culmination of a long debate about what to do with City Hall, which needs a full interior renovation including big-ticket accessibility upgrades such as a new elevator.

Julian Skinner, director of public works, said most recent estimates suggest a full rehabilitation of City Hall would cost $15.3 million. Even so, he recommended the city prepare for an $18 million project budget.

Alternatively, a new structure for city offices and multipurpose space at the Rose Lane property would equal around $8 million. He recommended a budget of $10 million if that was the selected option.

Skinner said the council could choose to do a partial renovation, but that would mean deferring some upgrades.

The council was under pressure to make a decision because the library plan is partially funded with a $5.2 million state grant that carries a 2026 project deadline. In order to stay on track, staff needed to know by the end of this month which direction the council wanted to take.

Councilmembers and the community asked what would happen to City Hall if the new city offices building were constructed.

City Manager Dan Schwarz said there are several options. His preference was offering the space to another entity or government agency with the cash flow to cover renovation costs. He said the ideal situation would be a lease that would allow an entity to operate there rent-free for a designated period if it pays for the rehabilitation.

Schwarz said the costs are so high for the city because it has to meet specific code standards in order to operate City Hall as a public facility. A renovation for a different type of use may not require the same treatment and could be significantly less expensive.

Skinner said if city offices were no longer at 400 Magnolia Ave., a renovation would cost an estimated $6 million to $9 million.

“The issue of fiscal responsibility is a bit of a red herring,” Haroff said. He said if the city pays for new offices at the library site and still has to renovate City Hall, the price ends up being similar to the $18 million expense that his colleagues were worried about.

The library project is expected to cost about $11.2 million. In addition to the grant, the Commons Foundation has raised $5.3 million and is seeking another $1 million for site improvements such as landscaping and lighting.

Schwarz said the new library would be 6,845 square feet. In addition to space for its collection, it would have a multipurpose room, several breakout rooms and a flex space for a children’s area.

“We’d like the library to be bigger than what we’re funded for,” Schwarz said. “And a way to accomplish that is to bring over another project that can expand the number of multipurpose rooms, because the missing component in my mind in the new facility is expanded programming offerings that people will want.”

Residents on both sides sounded off on the issue.

“I would like to reinforce the comment that when an old and valued structure outlives its usefulness that it be repurposed,” said Sandra Guldman, who lives in the Rose Lane area. “I think it’s fiscally irresponsible to try to retrofit the City Hall to be a fully functional, fully accessible public facility, and I think the only responsible thing to do is to relocate City Hall to Rose Lane.”

However, a vocal majority of community members who spoke at the meeting, including several past council members, said they want to City Hall to remain at 400 Magnolia Ave. because of its historic significance.

“This isn’t ‘400 Magnolia,'” said Joan Lubamersky, a former council member. “This is City Hall.”

Lubamersky said the community came together to raise money for the library, “and I think the community can do it for City Hall.”

Following the meeting, Mayor Gabe Paulson said “the vote to stay in City Hall was one of my most difficult decisions on the City Council, largely because of differing community values, wide ranges of price estimates and need for further analysis.”

“To be clear, the council did not decide to spend $18 million to refurbish City Hall,” he said. “The Council decided not to move City Hall to Rose Lane by split decision, but had agreed to preserving City Hall in some form unanimously. We now look forward to more information from staff.”

Schwarz said staff will not return to the council about the library project until it has selected finalists for consideration to design and build the project. Similarly, the discussion on the City Hall rehabilitation will not return until planning and design agreements are ready for approval.