By Kellen Olshefski
Correspondent
During its Committee of the Whole meeting last week, the City of Elkhorn Common Council selected three sites for an in-depth analysis of their potential for use as a location for the new City Hall.
Bill Henry and Dan Kehoe of Kehoe-Henry and Associates – the firm selected for the project – presented six sites throughout the City of Elkhorn for potential use as a City Hall location. The firm’s presentation focused on sites that could potentially fit a 15,000 square-foot building, along with off-street parking.
Following the presentation, the former Department of Public Works building site at Tasch Park and the VFW building site were eliminated as options by councilmembers.
The remaining sites discussed included two in the business park – the most probable of them being the one next to the Alliant Energy building off the extension of Commerce Court, at Sunset Park between the Parks and Recreation building and West Walworth Street, just south of the Advia Credit Union building on North Wisconsin Street and in the open lot between the Elkhorn Area Chamber of Commerce building and the parking lot on South Lincoln Street.
Of those sites, the City already owns two: Sunset Park and the property in the business park. As for either of the other two, the City would need to purchase property to build a City Hall.
Ultimately, the site next to the Elkhorn Area Chamber of Commerce was eliminated as councilmembers were against trying to squeeze a building onto that property, in part because the front of the building wouldn’t be easily accessible from South Lincoln Street and the site wouldn’t allow for expansion in the future, if needed.
While the remaining sites each had their perks, they also had some potential downfalls. As for the Sunset Park site, further environmental assessment would be needed to determine the effect of previous operations of a gas station on the property on the soils, according to City Administrator Sam Tapson.
At the site south of Advia, Henry noted the project would then require land acquisition. And as for the business park, Henry said it would be some distance outside of downtown Elkhorn and is also potentially marketable space the City could sell, which would then increase the City’s tax base.
The Sunset Park and business park sites were mutually agreed upon by councilmembers fairly early on in discussions, in part because the City already owns them. Ultimately, councilmembers also agreed on Monday, at the very least, to give further consideration into the potential use of the site just south of Advia Credit Union.
The Council is hoping to gain additional analysis of the three sites by Kehoe-Henry at its Aug. 19 meeting.
