Study shows Capitola City Hall needs to be upgraded

CAPITOLA, Calif. (KION-TV)- A study showed that the City of Capitola could need an upgrade to their City Hall and Police Station.

A draft was mentioned during an April council meeting which it believes the current location is too small, prone to flooding and nearing the end of it's 48-year life cycle.

Capitola city hall has had decades of plumbing issues, heating, and the roof leaking.

One major problem is the building sits on top of a floodplain which, according to Capitola, may be unable to respond at full capacity if city hall and the police department are affected by flooding.

“Twice in the past 20 years, it has flooded in this area so our first responders being located in a floodplain is one of the top issues for why we are looking at this study," Katie Herlihy community development director said.

This study is also taking a look into the employee capacity. The standard for workplace planning is 150 square feet per staff member. Currently, Capitola’s city hall has 111 square feet. This means that the workspaces are too small for the amount of staff in the building.

“Right now, we wanted to document the existing conditions and since we know that our building is kind of substandard in terms of space and upgrades, the next step is to go out to the Capitola residence and see what the vision of City Hall and what the future of City Hall should be," Herlihy said.

Phase 2 of the study is still in discussion and that is when budget talks will start, which could be in a few weeks.

“Changing the layout of city hall and doing an upgrade of the existing building so that it’s weatherproof and the heating system and plumbing is working correctly and to create greater efficiencies within the existing structure," Herlihy said.

Capitola residents shared how they feel about possibly using their tax dollars to revamp city hall.

“The businesses downtown have problems with the storms and then having to rehabilitate each year and Capitola has to still rebuild it's pier, perhaps there could be some sort of program for that," resident in Capitola Jerry Tanner said.

City officials are still discussing developments to the Capitola Wharf, Rispin Mansion and Jade Street Park.