Editorial: Talk of city hall’s future comes late in process

Talk about it

In about a week from now Farmington city employees will do their final packing and haul their office equipment down the street and around the corner to a new city hall. The new building will provide some much needed space and updated technology, but the move also creates a question: What do we do with the old building?

Two main options were the focus of discussion at a workshop meeting Monday night. Some in attendance supported plans to turn the former city hall property into a downtown park, complete with a memorial to the city’s veterans. A committee formed to create that memorial has already roughed out plans for the location.

A larger group showed up to support a plan to turn the former city hall into the new home of Farmington’s Rambling River Center. The current center is too crowded, they said, and the additional space would allow more groups to use the senior’s facility. Some suggested the seniors could share space with a teen center.

Neither plan is perfect. Some in the city worry about the cost associated with the improvements needed to allow the senior center to move in.

We like the idea of a park downtown. Maybe it’s just the idea of looking out our front door at green space rather than a parking lot. We believe putting a veteran’s memorial downtown would help draw people. And should Rambling River Days organizers decide to move the festival back downtown the park would provide a place to set up a stage. Organizers lost that space when construction began on the new city hall.

And yet, the backs of buildings that would surround the new park are hardly picturesque.

Of the two we prefer the park plan. Rambling River Center might lack some space but it’s in a good location near two senior apartment complexes.

It’s possible there are other ideas out there. Plans that could work better for everyone. And while city employees no doubt have held discussions before now of how to use the property. But this week’s was the first truly public broaching of the subject. As one council member pointed out Monday, it’s a discussion that perhaps should have been held earlier than a week before the space becomes available.

Tags: opinion, editorial, city, hall, future