Group Organizes to Fight City Office Building in Old Town Novato

More than 600 people signed a petition at the end of 2010 in support of Novato constructing a in the Old Town area. Now another group believes it can gather way more John Hancocks than that to show it’s a bad idea.

Several Grant Avenue business owners and other concerned residents are beginning to circulate a petition to stop the Novato City Council from spending upwards of $15 million on a complex at Machin Avenue and Cain Lane to serve as a new home for about 60 city employees. The location, a city-owned parking lot, is just across Machin from the , just north of the long-shuttered and just behind the row of businesses on Grant Avenue.

In a press release, the opposition group — calling itsself Stop the Current $15 Million Downtown Office Plan, wrote: “We believe the citizens of Novato, in general, have not had the opportunity to adequately weigh in on the far less expensive alternatives that are available or the exorbitant cost to build this project downtown. We also believe that many feel that these redevelopment funds should be used for multiple different capital improvement projects that would better the quality of life for all the citizens of Novato, not just city workers.”

In May, the City Council unanimously for the employees who have worked across town at since a cluster of old bungalows downtown were red-tagged five years ago. The rent at the Rowland building, owned by Barker Pacific Group, is about $750,000 annually and the city is desperate to get out of the lease and find a permanent home.

Earlier this year, considerations for more than 20 existing commercial buildings were made by city staff as a potential new home for city workers, and it boiled down to three finalists: Buying 75 Rowland Way and staying there; building from scratch at the undeveloped MacPhail’s property at the junctions of highways 37 and 101; and constructing a two-story office building with some parking on an existing lot on Machin, about 100 yards from the recently renovated .

Following the intentions set forth in the city’s general plan, the council opted to approve the new office on Machin. But since then, those who believe it’s either a bad location for a noncommercial building that will be dormant on nights and weekends or it’s not smart to spend that kind of money in this economic climate have gathered and voiced concerns more consistently at subsequent council meetings.

Dennis Cooper, a member of the Novato Planning Commission and a business development manager with Lucasfilm, said he supports the effort spearheaded by owner Henry Hautau along with George Cohen, a member of the Measure F Citizens Oversight Committee.

“Our side really just feels like there are a lot of people unhappy with the decision the council made,” Cooper said. “The ground hasn’t been broken, so why the rush to keep it going? We’re trying to say, hey look, a lot of voters don’t think it’s a good idea to spend $15 million to build it downtown. We are hopeful they’ll reconsider once they see how many people feel the way we do.”

Cooper said the group does not intend to gather signatures to force a referendum on a future ballot. He said it’s too late to get it on the November ballot and the cost of a special election shortly thereafter would be too high. Instead, the signatures are being gathered “to send a message to the council that they ought to reconsider.”

Cooper said the city’s declaration of a fiscal emergency, staff reductions and police budget cuts are further evidence that it’s time to be fiscally responsible and look at less-expensive options. He said the Machin site was the most expensive of the options explored by city staff when seen on cost-per-square-foot terms.

“There are a number of capital improvement projects to be done besides just spending it all on one project,” he said of the $15 million recently transferred to the city’s general fund from the Novato Redevelopment Agency. “What they’ve chosen is a really expensive option. Remodeling the Community House and turning it into city offices was not on their list. A study said it would cost $8 million to $10 million to renovate that building, and that would leave us $5 million to $7 million to do other things with. Think about what that could do.”

The group said downtown business owners are concerned about a lack of parking and it could be a much bigger problem two years down the line if the Novato Theater at 924 Grant is renovated and reopened and the Circle Bank headquarters and retail/restaurant shops at 999 Grant are opened. But Hautau said the No. 1 beef with the city's plan is the dollars.

"Ask any commercial real estate person or contractor who knows the costs of building and ask them if $700 per (square) foot is a good deal," he said, noting the estimated cost of the new city building. "The study they used said the MacPhail's plan was going to cost $6 million. They're talking about $15 million for the downtown site. I would like to know why it's more than double. That just doesn't seem right to me. I think there is a way to spend less than that on a place to house 60-some city workers."