City Hall
January 5th, 1928 was a historic day for our City. Almost a full year after officially becoming "Homewood", our newly constructed City Hall was complete. The Council had been doing business at the Edgewood town hall, located at what is now Dawson church.
I wonder if the citizens at the time could have possibly imagined what would become of their $85,000 investment. Were they thinking, "Great, we'll get about 80 years out of it and then we'll just tear it down".
How about the new city hall? How many years before we tear it down?
The truth is, our first City council probably had the same thoughts as our current, in relation to building the new City Hall. They were making an investment on behalf of the community. Just because we've outgrown a building for one use doesn't mean that it's "outlived it's usefulness". According to measuringworth.com that $85,000 investment is equivalent to $970,000 today. The city is selling the property for $1.1 million is that a good return on our investment?
On February 6th, the Planning Commission is set to discuss the rezoning of the City Hall property from Institutional to Mixed Use. This is the first step down the path for destruction of this historical building. I urge you to contact your City Council representative and ask them for their support in saving Homewood's history. Ask them to put a moratorium on all rezoning until while the Master Plan process is underway.
That will equate to a "stay of execution" for the property. Beyond that, I believe that the R.F.P. (request for proposals) process should be reopened, with serious consideration given only to proposals that guarantee preservation of the building.
Sincerely,
Larry Owen
P.S. All comments are welcomed.