Lynden workers get more space in new City Hall

ZOE FRALEY - THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

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LYNDEN - City staff will finally be able to stretch their legs Friday, May 29, as they move into the spacious new Lynden City Hall at 300 4th St.

At 22,000 square feet, the new building is about three times the size of the old City Hall, offering a basement and two floors of office and storage space. The previous City Hall building, at 323 Front St., was 80 years old and less than 7,500 square feet.

"I have five people (working) in the size of a small living room," said Teresa Camfield, Lynden's finance director, of her space in the old building. "We're very excited about getting into the new facility. You can't even put it into words. It's like night and day."

PHILIP A. DWYER | THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

The new City Hall will house about 25 members of the city staff, including the Planning Department, which used to be in a separate building because there was no room in the old City Hall.

City Administrator Bill Verwolf said he and the staff are excited to move into a building that will actually accommodate a modern office. In the old building, circuits would blow and the wiring wasn't exactly easy to work with.

"(There will be) space and a heating system that works and all kinds of things," Verwolf said. "It'll be handicap accessible so that citizens can come in and go to the department they need any time."

The new City Hall opens for business Monday. Phone number will remain the same.

Work on the building began in spring 2008 and cost about $5.7 million. In November 2006, voters approved a $3.9 million bond for the building, and additional funding came from the city's reserves and real estate excise taxes.

Before it became the site for City Hall, the property was used to store sand and salt that Public Works used on city streets. The old building will likely be sold to developers.

"This new building is designed to stay, with enough room for our operations for the reasonable future," Verwolf said. "We built it to last a long time. We assume 50 years from now it'll probably be fully utilized."

An open house for the new City Hall will take place from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, June 6, during Heritage Days.

"Hopefully it'll be something that the community is proud of," Verwolf said. "We're pretty proud of it."