WELDON SPRING — A new city hall and community center may be on the way for Weldon Spring, which has seen its population nearly triple in the past 40 years.
For now, the city uses a 3,200-square-foot city hall building that was previously a single-family home, and it has no official community center.
But city officials are weighing changes to both.
“Sometimes people are surprised by our current city hall. Not necessarily negatively surprised, but I think they are a bit taken aback by it,” said City Administrator Michael Padella. “You will hear them say how cozy it is.”
Weldon Spring was incorporated in 1984 and is now home to about 5,300 people. It bought its current city hall building in the 1990s.
The city’s community development staff, which includes the city engineer, city planner and code enforcement officer, all share an office. That space is so cramped, officials said, they often have to lay building plans on the floor or go to a different, off-site building to review proposals.
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And Padella said other than a large meeting room that is used by the Board of Aldermen, the current city hall lacks a conference room.
“If staff need to meet with residents, or if we need to meet with a developer, our only place to have a private conversation is in the mayor’s office, and sometimes we have to kick the mayor out of his office,” Padella said. “We are definitely hamstrung for space in our current building.”
The city has hired FGM Architects to study either upgrading the current city hall or building an entirely new building. The study will also encompass a potential community center that may include things like meeting room space for small groups or even a fitness center.
The study is expected to take 14 weeks and will include time for public feedback, Padella said. The city is using its half-cent sales tax for parks and facilities to pay the architectural company nearly $25,000.
“My hope is that this will help us gauge the public’s appetite for those kinds of spaces along with their thoughts about city hall,” Padella said. “I am curious what the assessment will find about the structure of our current building, but I’m also curious what residents have to say about where they want Weldon Spring to be in the future.”
The new Weldon Spring Interpretive Center that opened in April failed to include the memorial to workers who died of various maladies related to their handling of uranium. Advocates are upset about the decision.
