Space allows for eventual project; not current priority
Newcastle City Council members took a look at how the layout of a new City Hall might work near Newcastle Fire Station 1.
The City had asked Guernsey Engineers, Architects, Consultants back in 2022 to create a rendering which would show the Main Street location on the south side of the fire station.
Mayor Karl Nail said, “We engaged Guernsey to go ahead and do a master plan for the remainder of the land at the Fire Station where we would like to eventually build a new City Hall.”
He said the City won’t be able to build for numerous years, but when they get closer, the Council will have an idea of a possible layout, and then later they can have some engineering done on a new facility.
“This is just a preliminary layout to give us some ideas as we move forward. Nothing is set in stone,” Nail said. “This lets us know that what we are thinking does work on that location.”
CITY HALL: Turnpike work means prioritizing roads, water
The Mayor said the City is looking ahead on this project but noted that they have more important priorities right now such as road work that needs to be accomplished.
Some of the City’s work coincides with the construction of the new East-to-West Connector turnpike planned off the H.E. Bailey Turnpike near State Highway 32 at Newcastle. This connector route will extend eastward, across the Canadian River to U.S. Interstate 35.
Nail said, “We have some sewer and water lines we are moving because of the turnpike. These are time sensitive and will need to be done before the turnpike comes in.”
He noted that some of the City’s projects are being reimbursed by the turnpike authority.
He also said the City is extending some areas with sewer and water, and they’ll have to install casing for this infrastructure.
“We are also looking at expanding 24th Street west of the turnpike,” Nail said. “We did engage an engineer to start working on that. Our hope is that we can widen 24th to the northwest about the same time the OTA is building the turnpike over I-44.”
At an earlier meeting of the City Council, the City announced that it had started an account to begin putting back a limited amount of funding for a future City Hall project.
At that same meeting, City Manager Kevin Self said, “We kind of have a goal of maybe three years of doing this, and then we start engineering. The engineering would take about a year, and then we are four years out, and then maybe five, six or seven, we start construction.”
