As the new fiscal year looms, the city is putting most of the pieces together to build a municipal complex over the next year and a half.
At the regularly scheduled Taylor City Council meeting Aug. 24, city leaders unanimously approved a series of firms and individuals to oversee a $53 million project funded through certificates of obligation to construct a new Justice Center and City Hall complex, which will house city staff, the police department and the municipal court.
“Tonight, we are bringing you the team that will be looking at looking designing this overall process and overlooking the project providing checks and balances,” said City Manager Brian LaBorde.
First up, the council approved a $3.2 million agreement with Randall Scott Architects, Inc., a Dallas-based firm with decades of experience designing 35 municipal buildings across the state, to oversee the programming, planning, design and construction of the complex, which will primarily be located on land the city is acquiring just south of the Taylor Fire Department headquarters at 304 E. Third Street.
“This is an approximately 30-month process,” LaBorde said. “We are starting with a 56,000 square foot facility at $625 per square for $35 million. (But) we have a bigger footprint to look at for improvements.”
Additionally, city leaders approved two separate agreements related to construction of the complex, including a $2.4 million task order for the city’s engineering firm HDR Inc. to serve as the owner’s representative for the project and a $70,000 professional services agreement with the city’s urban design consultant, Michael Watkins Architect, LLC, for design review.
Assistant City Manager Tom Yantis said employing Watkins will help the city keep important aspects of the city’s Envision Taylor Comprehensive Plan in mind during the design process.
“What Mike’s team does is they look specifically at urban design and how does the building fit within the goals and policies of our comprehensive plan, our downtown master plan, and how does the building frame the public realm,” Yantis said. “That is a skillset that is really important that we don’t have in house on our team, so we are proposing to use Mike in that role just like he serves in that role on private development.”
City leaders also unanimously approved Yantis’ recommendation to appoint the members of the Main Street Advisory Board as members of an Ad hoc advisory committee during the design process.
“We all know how important a project this is,” Yantis said. “This has to last for generations. And, because of its location in our downtown, we thought that it was advisable, and we also heard from the community ... so our recommendation is to use a group that we already have in place in the Main Street Advisory Board. They are kind of the keepers of the vision of downtown, with phenomenal, some very experienced architectural knowledge and education that could be brought to bear for this group as it looks over the shoulder of what’s being done during this design process.
District 4 Councilman Robert Garcia reiterated earlier requests that the style of the new complex reflect the design of Taylor’s historic City Hall, which was torn down in the early part of the 20th Century, and that certain streets with wood underlaying them in the plan’s footprint be restored.
However, Garcia expressed his enthusiasm for appointing members of the Main Street Advisory Board to the ad hoc committee.
“We have people like (architect) Doug Moss on that who was born and raised in Taylor,” Garcia said. “Having that hometown inspiration in this project means a lot, and I know they will take good care of us.”
