Manlius eyes site for new town hall

TOWN OF MANLIUS – The Town of Manlius has negotiated a purchase agreement with Twin Shores Properties, LLC to purchase nearly eight acres of land on North Burdick Street for a new town hall.
The purchase agreement is for $2.8 million and includes two parcels – 5424 and 5430 N. Burdick Street. It also includes the donation to the town of about 62 acres of wetlands along the back of the property that could become the town’s first park.
Although a tentative agreement is in place, it is not yet a done deal. A public hearing on the land purchase has been scheduled for June 26 after which the town board will vote on whether to approve the purchase.
The quest for a new town facility is not new. Currently, the town operates out of Brooklea Drive in Fayetteville and the police department is housed in the village of Manlius municipal building. Both Supervisor John Deer and former Supervisor Ed Theobald have been public about their interest in bringing all the town facilities to one location in the center of town and town officials have been studying new facilities for the past 25 years.
Deer said last week that over the years the town has investigated several potential parcels for a new facility, including talking with COR Development about parcels within Towne Center. As this parcel became available, Deer said it was important to move quickly as it is “the last reasonable parcel” in the fast-developing N. Burdick St. corridor.
If the town goes through with the purchase, Deer estimated that the planning and design phase of the project would take about a year.
“Once we have site control, there’s no rush,” Deer said. “We can take the time, make sure the public knows what we’re doing.”
The current town hall on Brooklea Drive, built in the 1960s, is approximately 12,000 square feet and is out of compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and current court facilities requirements.
The police facilities are in the village of Manlius municipal building, where the Town of Manlius Police Department moved following the merger of the three village departments in 1985. Since that time, the town has conducted two feasibility studies – in 1999 and again in 2018 – both of which determined that the police facility is “not reflective of a modern day police department.”
The move to N. Burdick Street could also improve response times to the northern portions of the town, which are approximately 20 minutes away from the current facility in the town of Manlius.
A conceptual layout of a new town hall is available on the town’s website, which shows a two-story layout of approximately 40,000 square feet. The main floor would host the town offices, courts and some police offices. The lower floor would include additional space for the police department, including lockers, fitness and training rooms, evidence processing and storage, and a space for booking suspected criminals.