MISSION VIEJO : City Negotiating for New Civic Complex

City officials, annoyed by what some consider crowded quarters and exorbitant rent on their offices, are nearing a decision on buying a new City Hall, Mayor William S. Craycraft said Tuesday.

Craycraft said officials have begun negotiations with several local landowners to buy a building for a larger City Hall and civic center. The city pays about $370,000 a year for 16,600 square feet on La Alameda.

Rent is climbing on that office space, which was recently expanded to include almost the entire first floor of the building. Rental payments grow at about the rate of inflation--about 5% to 6% a year--said Irwin Bornstein, the city’s director of administrative services.

That comes to more than $15,000 a year, so the city’s annual payments are likely to top $500,000 by the late 1990s. Some officials predict even higher jumps, and Craycraft cited the increasing rent costs and the city’s desire to invest in property as prime reasons for the search, which has been reviewed in several closed council sessions.

“It’s premature to say too much, but we’re in the negotiation stage, and we’re looking for something that would suit our needs better,” he said.

Councilman Christian W. Keena, who becomes mayor on Jan. 1, said the city has reviewed more than a dozen possible sites and has made “see-how-they-react-type offers” on four or five.

He said the city is considering using the site for a library and arts center in addition to City Hall offices. Together, he said, the facilities would make up one large “civic center.”

But council members are divided on the issue. Craycraft, Keena and Robert A. Curtis tentatively support the move, while Norman P. Murray said he has doubts.

“I’m not in a panic mode,” Murray said. “I think it (the current facility) is a very splendid location, personally. It has excellent entrances, a wheelchair ramp and an abundance of parking.”

Curtis and Keena said they expect the council to vote on a new City Hall site sometime in the early part of 1990, possibly in January.