Dallas City Council to revisit City Hall relocation plan at new special meeting next week
The Dallas City Council will have a special meeting next week on whether to begin searching for a new location for City Hall.
Mayor Eric Johnson added the meeting to the agenda Thursday night. There are two items on the agenda for the meeting, scheduled for 8 a.m. on Wednesday, June 17: authorizing the city manager to explore up to four sites to relocate City Hall, and four sites to relocate the city's 911 and emergency services operations.
The meeting will be the latest step in a contentious debate among city councilmembers, business leaders and interest groups surrounding the fate of current City Hall building.
A vote on relocating City Hall was on the agenda earlier this week, but a group of councilmembers filed a lawsuit to stop it, alleging violations of the Texas Open Meetings Act. A Dallas County judge issued a temporary restraining order prevent the vote from taking place.
On Tuesday, the City Council did vote on a proposal to repair the building, which was rejected 9 to 6.
Dallas City Hall debate
Faced with a massive bill for renovating and modernizing the existing facility at 1500 Marilla St., Johnson and several members of the City Council are pushing for city hall to relocate to an office tower in the central business district. They argue that City Hall has outgrown its current building, which is nearly 50 years old and in need of extensive repairs.
"There are alternatives in the market, in the central business district, and around the central business district where we could actually locate City Hall, and it would cost us less money than repairing this place," Johnson told CBS News Texas' Jack Fink last week.
Relocating would also help a central business district that is experiencing high vacancy rates in office towers. The prime piece of land that City Hall sits on could then be sold and redeveloped to better suit the city's needs.
Opponents of relocating City Hall point out that the building was designed by renowned modernist architect I. M. Pei, who also designed the Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas. They also argue that the cost estimates to repair the building are exaggerated and the effort will take less time and money than the $1.1 billion over two decades including five years it would need to be vacant.
Some council members have also spoken out against City Manager Kim Bizor Tolbert for not briefing them about discussions she had with the Dallas Mavericks about using the City Hall site for a new arena (The Mavericks announced they plan to build at the former Valley View Mall site instead of in Downtown).
