A lawyer trying to stop the city of Orange from moving city hall out of the historic downtown commissioned an architect to do schematic designs to redo a vacant bank building for the city offices.
Leslie Barras and her husband, Kevin McAdams, presented conceptual drawings to the Orange City Council Tuesday. The drawings are for the exterior of the 1970s glass building at Fifth and Main streets.
Barras said she and the architect went inside the building, which is for sale. The second floor would need a lot of work, she said.
The architect has worked for a city government for 25 years and has a background in historical buildings, she said.
The conceptual drawing showed an entrance on Fifth Street designed to blend with the red brick of the current 1920s city hall, along with the new police station, fire station and public works building.
Barras said the architect added some exterior features to make the building more energy efficient. He also suggested using solar panels to generate electricity.
She said the 1920s building could be used as the Convention and Visitors Bureau for the city.
Earlier this year, the council voted unanimously without public comment to buy the First Financial Bank building, 812 North 16th Street.
The bank is planning to construct a smaller building at 16th Street and Park Avenue.
Barras, who has renovated a house in the Old Orange Historic District, filed a lawsuit to stop the move. She contended in the lawsuit the city’s charter requires the city to follow a master plan that has had public hearings. The master plan can be changed through public hearings and reviews by the city council and the commission for planning and zoning, she said.
She said the current master plan calls for city hall and all city offices to be in the “Old Town Center” of downtown.
City Attorney John Cash Smith argued before 260th State District Judge Buddie Hahn that the master plan is only a suggestion and the city is not required to follow it. Hahn ruled in favor of the city.
Barras appealed the decision to the Texas Ninth Court of Appeals, where it is currently pending.
During the court hearing, Doctor of Philosophy and City Manager Shawn Oubre said First Financial had an appraisal on the building at $4.4 million to $4.6 million. The city had an appraisal that put the value at $2.4 million. He said the bank offered to sell the city the building for $2 million and the city would sign papers for the bank to apply for federal tax credits for the additional $2.4 million. The city “felt it was a fair” deal, Oubre said.
Besides the architectural drawings, Barras also gave the council members a drawing of her suggestions to reconfigure the current city hall land and buildings.
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