After making the decision to lease and ultimately purchase a new Burlingame City Hall building at 1440 Chapin Ave., the city is soliciting feedback on what will become of the existing City Hall site — though options are largely limited to housing, open space or civic uses, Deputy City Manager Jeremy Kirshner said.
Whatever changes will eventually occur at the current 501 Primrose Road location won’t happen overnight, since the move into the new City Hall isn’t expected until August of next year.
At an in-person community workshop on Oct. 22, community members said maintaining some element of open space at the current 501 Primrose Road is a priority, Kirshner said.
“Having that space … is important to the community around it,” he said. “Preserving some form of open space there, that’s something the city is considering.”
Besides open space, the property is only zoned for civic use and housing. Repairing the existing building was estimated to cost the city at least $35 million over the next 10 years, and the growing size of city staff made remaining in the building challenging regardless.
“That building isn’t safe to use for another use, or easy for another use, and requires tens of millions in improvements,” Kirshner said. “That’s just kind of the reality of the situation.”
Per results of a community survey, which garnered more than 500 responses, residents are open to the idea of some form of housing on the property, he said. Building housing on the lot would require sale of the property, though requirements for open space could be included in a future contract.
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Incorporating additional parking was also of interest to residents who’ve engaged with the city feedback process, Kirshner said.
The city is also looking into potential historic preservation requirements for the existing City Hall, which was of interest to several community members, Kirshner said. The existing building was constructed in the early 1970s and has no current historic preservation status on record.
“We’re looking at a process for exploring all historic preservation rules and making sure we honor the legacy of the building and its meaning to the community,” he said.
In the meantime, Burlingame is continuing to solicit feedback from the community of what should become of the existing site, particularly given the fact that responses thus far have largely come from homeowners over the age of 45. The city wants to hear from multifamily building dwellers and younger residents, Kirshner said.
The city is also holding a virtual workshop on Oct. 28, from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Zoom to discuss potential future options.
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