Arts backers win in Bellevue City Hall plans

By Warren Cornwall
Seattle Times Eastside bureau

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An appetite for landscaping and public art prompted the Bellevue City Council last night to set a $101.5 million price tag for a new City Hall, roughly $1.1 million more than a proposal from City Manager Steve Sarkozy.

The council proved unwilling to sacrifice amenities most visible to the public.

"I think we have pushed the limit," said John Chelminiak, who, despite some concerns about the overall cost, joined five other council members in voting for the overall package. "In the end, we're going to have a spectacular building."

The final spending limit, set by the council in a 6-1 vote, was less than the $102.49 million tentative limit the council set last year.

Last night's decision establishes how the city will convert a downtown office building into the new center of city government. The building, at 450 110th Ave. N.E., occupies half a city block on the downtown's eastern edge.

The only major casualty of the budget crunching was a proposal for an environmentally friendly "green" roof. It was quietly dropped from a final list of alternatives.

Council members had shown little interest in the idea of putting plants and grass on top of roofs, an idea architects proposed as a way to absorb water and heat.

In the end, arts proponents were the biggest winners. The council rejected Sarkozy's proposal to take $450,000 from a separate public-art fund to pay for art in the City Hall project. It also stuck by the $893,000 figure for spending on public art, voting against a proposal by Chelminiak and Councilman Grant Degginger to cut $192,500.

Several local arts boosters had pleaded with the council to keep its hands off the separate arts fund and to stick with the initial spending plan.

Aside from the green roofs, Councilman Conrad Lee suffered the biggest setback. Lee had championed putting a water feature, such as a fountain, at the corner of Northeast Fourth Street and 112th Avenue Northeast. The idea was rejected twice by the council in 4-3 votes.
 
That prompted Lee to cast the lone vote against the overall plan.

Warren Cornwall: 206-464-2311 or wcornwall@seattletimes.com