LAGUNA BEACH : Reopening Day Nears for City Hall

After working out of temporary trailers for more than a year and a half, the renovation and expansion of Laguna Beach’s City Hall is finally complete, and workers will open for business in their new quarters on Tuesday.

City officials say the renovation was not a smooth operation since it was completed a bit behind schedule. The building will cost about $4 million--twice what had been expected. But on Friday, with the final move-in day looming, employees packed boxes, pitched in to help workers and shared mixed memories of the past 20 months in limbo.

“The trailers have been better accommodations than most of us expected them to be,” City Clerk Verna L. Rollinger said. “But I don’t know anybody who wouldn’t rather be in City Hall.”

Most employees agreed that the transition period was not too bad. And some even spoke nostalgically of the makeshift offices they were leaving behind.

“It’s the first time all my people were in one trailer,” Police Capt. William Cavenaugh said. “I could see them and talk to them. Now we’re going back and we’re going to be separated, so it’s kind of sad in a way.”

After almost a decade with the city, criminologist Janet Gilliam said she finally got acquainted with employees from other departments because of the cozy accommodations. “I think the trailers have brought this city closer together,” she said.

The remodeling, which spared the building’s stately facade while boosting the square footage from 16,712 feet to 29,451 feet, stirred controversy earlier this year when it was disclosed the cost would be twice earlier estimates.

A variety of factors contributed to the rising costs, including unstable soil conditions in the hillsides behind City Hall, the bankruptcy of the project architect and the removal of asbestos discovered in the walls of the original building. City Manager Kenneth C. Frank put the final tally at roughly $4.1 million to $4.2 million.

Over the past year, some residents grumbled that the public had too little say in the project because the remodeling was done in a “piecemeal” fashion. But on Friday, with the smell of fresh paint thick in the air, employees concentrated on the new accommodations at 505 Forest Ave.

“Are you ready for this?” Gilliam asked, presenting the new employee lunchroom and outdoor patio. “This is first class. We have never had anything like this. Never.”