FORT MYERS, FLA. — So many people come to downtown Fort Myers to handle their government business, but city officials are discussing moving City Hall to another part of town.
Watch Fort Myers Community Correspondent Miyoshi Price's report:
"This building is over 50 years old," says Mayor Kevin Anderson, referring to the current city hall. "We've outgrown it. Our departments are spread out in other buildings." He says the current concept is not efficient. The goal is to house all of the departments in one building.
Anderson is looking into possibilities for the current city hall location. "If we stay here, we went in somehow, include some commercial space where we would have a steady stream of income, but as as a private development, it could be mixed use, where you've got commercial on the first floor and you got residential up above."
The three options for an updated City Hall are Lee Memorial, a section on the News Press site where police and fire will be, or redeveloping City Hall.
"When you look at this site, it's in downtown, it's close to the county buildings.," says Mayor Anderson "That's good, but we're also on a very valuable piece of land. If this was redeveloped with mixed-use, multi-family, we can infuse as many as 1000 residents into downtown."
In Monday's workshop, the council had concerns about the distance from other government buildings.
"I think the thought of us decentralizing City Hall from downtown, where so many of those operations are happening, we're impacting traffic," says Diana Giraldo, the newest council member. She started the thought of folks having to drive around the city outside of the civic district to get their government errands done.
Anderson says they have to look at what's fiscally responsible and the impact on the city's ability to provide a high level of services to residents.
Anderson also commented on the Lee Memorial and the News Press site.
"That could be a catalyst for Cleveland avenue," says Mayor Anderson. "Cleveland Avenue, as we know, is in need of some attention, and this could be what sparks that attention. And I could make the same argument for the News Press site. A private developer would still develop the news press site, but we would have a little piece of it carved out, probably closer to where the police headquarters is going to be there at Fowler and Market."
He says the next step will be a needs assessment for space.
