The future of the former Lewes Army Reserve Center property on Savannah Road is marching forward, but at a slow cadence.

Mayor and city council and the Board of Public Works have both recently reaffirmed their desire to kick-start the project. The city has yet to acquire the Army property.

“We’re getting a lot of pressure from the [Army Corps of Engineers] and others to decide what we’re going to do – demolish it or do lead abatement. They’re getting really annoyed with us,” said Deputy Mayor Khalil Saliba at a Dec. 13 council special meeting.

An ad hoc steering committee met for the first time in January to look at next steps. The group is comprised of Mayor Andrew Williams, Saliba, City Manager Ellen Lorraine McCabe, BPW board President Tom Panetta, BPW board member Preston Lee and Robin Davis, interim BPW general manager.

The status of the project was also a major topic of a Jan. 27 joint meeting between mayor and city council and BPW.

“This is obviously a multi-year, long-term plan, but I think the committee is starting to make good progress on how to manage the process,” Saliba said.

The city wants to build a new municipal complex on the site, which would likely include a new city hall, police headquarters and BPW offices. The city said each entity involved has outgrown its current space.

The panels are discussing whether BPW would be part owner or a tenant at the new campus.

Williams said there is no projected cost or timeline for the project.

A 2023 study found a new municipal building should be 56,000 square feet, or triple the size of the current building, in order to accommodate city, police and BPW needs.

The city has not decided what it would do with the current city hall building.

There are two scenarios council and BPW are considering before they obtain the property: the Army pays for building demolition and contamination clean-up or the city takes the property as is and pays for demolition, renovation and clean-up on its own.

In December, council allocated about $20,000 of American Rescue Plan Act funds toward a ground contamination study. The city has also hired an environmental consultant. 

The BPW voted 4-1 Jan. 22 to support demolition and have the Army turn over a clean site. Williams said the consensus on council favors demolition.

BPW board member Barbara Curtis voted against tearing the buildings down. She said she favors repurposing what it already there.

“It’s a sturdy building. It does need some clean-up, but I hate the thought of tearing it down and creating all that waste,” Curtis said.

Lee said the building’s design does not allow for any flexibility in renovations.

“It’s a block building from the 1950s. It’s not historical. It doesn’t have studs you can tear down and move around. You have to take down block walls internally and some of those are structural,” Lee said.

Resident Kerry Tripp told those at the joint meeting that their process has to include citizen input.

“When I say to people that we’re looking at this and it’s going to cost X million dollars to move it, most people are surprised. It needs a lot more transparency, and that needs to start now. This is the biggest thing we’ve ever built in Lewes,” Tripp said.

Williams and Panetta disagreed that there has been a lack of transparency. They said the municipal complex has been on public meeting agendas for years and that there have been many articles in the [Cape Gazette].

Panetta said there will be a lot of community outreach going forward, including public workshops, where residents will have an opportunity to give their ideas.

At a Jan. 28 meeting, the Lewes Finance Committee urged council to give members direction so they can start planning for the municipal complex in future budgets.