Most of the 260 Draper residents who attended Tuesday's town meeting pleaded with the City Council and Mayor Elaine Redd to drop plans for a new City Hall.
Instead, they urged the city to renovate the World War I-era Draper Park School and give residents the chance to vote on any decision.One woman asked the council if it had already made a decision on the building. Councilman Lyn Kimball said, "We have not decided."
But the council did not say whether residents would get the chance to vote on the issue.
"We should let the people vote," Councilman Darrell Smith said.
The city can restore the school for about $3.6 million, according to Allen Roberts of Cooper-Roberts Architects. The firm has restored historicial buildings all over the U.S. for the past 20 years, he said.
The mayor and the city's Arts Council want to use the building as a cultural and recreational center.
Richard Ellis, the city's finance director, estimated the cost for a new City Hall at less than $3.7 million.
The council is hesitant to accept the suggestion to remodel the current City Hall, an idea favored by the mayor and the city's Arts Council, because residents would then have to pay for one of the projects through issuance of general obligation bonds.
Ellis said if residents approve a bond issue of about $3.5 million, owners of homes valued at $200,000 could expect to pay an additional $61.42 each year in city property taxes. They now pay $99 annually, he said. Ellis said that amount would decrease each year as the city grows and new homes are built.
The meeting lasted more than three hours. The architects and Lawrence D. Reaveley, chairman of the department of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Utah, gave presentations during the first several hours.
The remainder of the meeting was devoted to residents and their concerns.
Wayne Spratt, a resident of Draper for 38 years, said he wants the school preserved as part of the city's historic heritage.
"I hate to see what this city has become, but I can't stop it," he said.
Perry Greenwood, a member of a local historic preservation group, said the school building should be preserved.
"If we don't restore it, then it is going to be abandoned and left to ruin," he said. "We are not ready to build both buildings. Restore the old City Hall, then build the new one as the tax base increases."
Councilman Paul Lunt urged residents to "get informed. Don't let this be an emotional decision."
Bruce Davis asked Redd how her lawsuit against the city was being financed.
"The city has not spent one dime on what I am seeking an answer to," she said, adding that the suit is being financed by an independent residents committee.
Redd is asking a 3rd District Court judge to decide whether the City Council acted illegally in 1989 when it changed the city's form of government, reducing the role of the mayor's position, without having a public vote.