BY KEVIN ALDRIDGE
The Cincinnati Enquirer
MASON -- Saddled with cramped quarters and a growing need for more space, city officials here may finally be getting some badly needed elbow room.
Mason City Council recently agreed to buy nearly 74 acres on Mason-Montgomery Road for the development of a government services center and possible expansion of the park system. The land, known as the Westerkamm farm, was bought for $3.1 million.
The deal should come as no surprise as it takes place in the midst of an unprecedented government building boom in Warren and Butler counties. A flourishing economy and population surges in two of Ohio's fastest-growing counties have spurred many governments to abandon smaller, more antiquated buildings in favor of larger, more plush accommodations.
Consolidation a goal
Although Mason's proposed government services center -- estimated to cost about $10 million -- probably will not be built for another five years, leaders envision the new building as a way of consolidating many government offices that are scattered throughout the city. "For many years now, we have been in cramped quarters at our current building," Assistant City Manager Eric Hansen said. "With all the growth and expansion the city has experienced in recent years, we are pushing the seams."
Several other governments in Warren and Butler counties are grappling with a similar space problem.
Warren County commissioners broke ground in Lebanon last this past spring on a new, three-story county building to help alleviate their badly crowded conditions. The $13 million administration building, which will be half-Colonial and half-Victorian, will sit in the center of the Warren County government campus along Justice Drive, home to the county's sheriff's department, jail, common pleas court, elections board and health department.
Constructing center
In Butler County, construction on a new government services center is expected to be complete by August 1999, officials said. The $35 million project that features a state-of-the-art, multigovernmental building and parking garage will be in downtown Hamilton.
The center will house government offices from the state of Ohio, city of Hamilton and Butler County. It also will create additional court space for the county's domestic relations court.
Hamilton Township trustees are revising plans for a $5 million township building designed to centralize all township operations. With the township's population doubling in less than a decade, officials here also saw the need for expansion.
The 45,000 square-foot township building officials originally had in mind is nearly 12 times as big as the existing town hall, where the township's administration, police and zoning offices are located.
In Deerfield Township, trustees are continuing to shop around for land to build an administration building. Talk about the possible purchase of a 93-acre parcel on U.S. 22 - Ohio 3 to develop a town center has been the buzz about town for weeks.
The town center would feature a public safety building that would likely incorporate the township's administration offices with its police and fire department offices, Township Administrator Hazel Dotson said.
Trustees began planning to build a new administration building in 1991. Although discussions are only preliminary, Mrs. Dotson said relief for the township's space crunch can't come soon enough. "We are probably looking at somewhere between three to five years before anything is actually done," she said, noting the township is reviewing several options for a new building. "But we've got to do something in the meantime. We're busting out the seams over here."
Before settling on this 74-acre parcel last month, Mason officials had been scouting the area for months in hopes of finding suitable land to erect a new city hall.
The current one, at 202 W. Main St., is simply too small to meet the city's needs, City Manager Scot Lahrmer said. Mason officials were forced to open a satellite office in 1994 for its engineering and building departments due to lack of space.
"We just simply don't have the room in this building anymore to house all of our departments and offices," Mr. Hansen said. City Hall houses the municipal court, administration offices and the police, parks and recreation, economic development, tax, finance and public utilities departments. The city's maintenance and road crews each have offices in other parts of the city.
"Our present building has served the city very well over the years," Mr. Hansen said. "But Mason is a lot different now than it was when City Hall was first built."
Constructed by the Works Progress Administration in 1939,City Hall was the centerpiece of a flourishing downtown in what was then the village of Mason. Resting on roughly a third of an acre, the building was erected for about $400,000, officials said.
But a 35 percent population growth since 1990 has forced leaders to re-evaluate their situation.
"We must grow to meet the needs of the increased growth of the area," Mr. Hansen said.
Mr. Hansen said the most attractive thing about the Westerkamm property is its location.
"It is really a strategically located property in that it is close to the downtown and central business district," he said. "It also provides us with a lot of possibilities for expansion of our parks."
Bordered by Mason-Montgomery Road on the east, the land sits directly across from Rose Hill Cemetery. It is next to Pine Hill Lakes Park on the east and is close to Corwin Nixon Park and Mason Municipal Pool to the south.
Mr. Hansen said as part of the purchase agreement the land will continue to be farmed for three years. He said city officials will use that time to decide exactly what look the new government services center will take on.
"The first and most important step was to locate and secure the property," he said. "Within the next five years, we will be looking at moving forward with construction. We don't want to rush into any decisions. We want to make sure the next facility lasts us just as long as our present one."
And what will become of the current 59-year-old building?
"We don't know," Mr. Hansen said. "It's a good building, I'm sure we can make good use of it."
