Some on council still hope for co-location with Linn County; county, meanwhile, gets parking variance to expand at current site

Some on the City Council seem to still hope that Linn County will join forces with the city so the council can build a new City Hall on a downtown “civic campus” that would have room for a new county building on the site as well.

 It was a hope that felt a little shaky on Monday at the Cedar Rapids Board of Adjustment meeting.

At the request of Linn County and its engineering consultant, Hall & Hall Engineers, the Board of Adjustment granted the county a parking variance so it can expand its existing Linn County Administrative Office Building. The expansion proposal - which would add a total of 24,000 square feet to the 46,254-square-foot, flood-damaged county building - would require the county to have 280 parking spaces. The board's action Monday will allow the county to expand the building and provide just 242 parking spaces.

In truth, the Linn County Board of Supervisors has not yet publicly decided where it will locate the county's administrative offices.

The supervisors already would have opted to go back to an expanded and improved Administrative Office Building if they had secured state I-JOBS funds to help with the cost. The supervisors still hope they will get those state funds.

Meanwhile, the county has been pursuing a public participation process not unlike the City Council has in an effort to hear what citizens think about where the county ought to put its administrative offices.

The supervisors are trying to decide if they should go back to the Administrative Office Building, make permanent the county's temporary offices at Westdale Mall or co-locate with the city.

Another option - the developer liked the idea best - was to put county offices in the former Econofoods store on 51st Street NE. The developer on Monday told the county that site now has been sold.