Campus Watch logo. Graphic by Andy Mooney, Salisbury Post.

By Joanie Morris

Kannapolis Citizen

City Council members and staff will have a new home on the North Carolina Research Campus soon, but first, City Manager Mike Legg needed some input from council members at the city's annual retreat last Thursday.

The government offices are proposed to be in the civic building and citizen center on the campus, but Legg told council Thursday, "We need to discuss location, facility type.

"It's a wide open issue," Legg said.

Council members took him at his word and offered their suggestions on the government offices, as well as proposed police facilities.

The construction of the civic building is scheduled for 2009 and includes 250,000 square feet of space, 50,000 square feet of which the city would use. Legg told council that would likely include a long-term lease with Castle & Cooke with the option of ownership at the end. The cost would be an estimated $11.2 million for the building, with an annual debt service of about $895,000 or about 4 cents on the tax dollar. The facility would not include parking.

In 2001, the city did a space needs study that estimated the cost of a new, 55,000-square-foot facility would be approximately $13.7 million, including a plaza and parking structure.

"The cost of this is more than we might normally put into a building like this," Legg told council. "In the end, it's a pretty hefty commitment we would be making."

Councilman Roger Haas asked if the cost included a facility for the police department, which in its 100-year history has always rented space. Legg told Haas that the police facility is an estimated additional cost of about $10 million.

Police Chief Paul Brown told council that police stations have a "very unique security and operational design."

"You would have to go in and make sure the functional design (of the civic building) compliments police departments," Brown told council. "The other consideration, too, is our clientele is different from your clientele."

Brown also cited parking issues and different equipment than what normally would be parked at a structure such as the city is discussing.

"A more commercial area might be a better venue for police than in the middle of the technology campus," Brown said. Suggestions included a location on Bethpage Road at N.C. 3 where the Public Works Operation Center is located.

"Don't you think a presence is good so you are seen," Councilman Gene McCombs asked Brown.

"Our intention all along was to locate some officers at the campus and in center city," Brown said. "It wouldn't necessarily have to be a headquarters," Brown said.

Councilman Richard Anderson said he wasn't locked into having the police headquarters or city government offices in the downtown area.

"It has always seemed to be, in the past, that most city offices (are in downtown areas) but I find times changing," Anderson said.

"For a city, you have to have some sense of arrival," McCombs argued. "When you come to Kannapolis, or to Charlotte or to Huntersville, how do you know you are there unless you have some sense of centralization?"

Other council members agreed with a center city concept for the government offices and police headquarters, as long as prices were competitive.

Councilman Roger Haas pointed out that the city offices would be a catalyst for bringing people to the area, where they would later shop and eat in the new proposed retail center.

"I think that's something we can use to make the lease more desirable," Haas said.

Mayor Pro Tem Randy Cauthen said there were many things to consider before a decision is made.

"I think there's just a lot of things we need to hear they have planned before we make a decision," Cauthen said.

Council members suggested other services besides the city be available on a limited basis at the center, as well. Some suggested that Rowan and Cabarrus county services have a small presence at the center, much like a "stop and shop" county center.