Los Alamitos is currently looking at various options to relocate its city hall, and the rest of the current civic center, to.
The Joint Forces Training Base is one that is being aggressively sought by the city. However, the process to do so would be lengthy and would take no less than two years if everything goes right.
“I do need you to be prepared for a long process,” said Cheryl Connet during a presentation at the Los Al City Council meeting on July 18. Connet is the Chief of the Asset Management Division for the U.S. Army and the National Guard.
Los Alamitos is currently looking at various options to relocate its city hall, and the rest of the current civic center, to.
The Joint Forces Training Base is one that is being aggressively sought by the city. However, the process to do so would be lengthy and would take no less than two years if everything goes right.
“I do need you to be prepared for a long process,” said Cheryl Connet during a presentation at the Los Al City Council meeting on July 18. Connet is the Chief of the Asset Management Division for the U.S. Army and the National Guard.
At the meeting, Connet said the best-case scenario for a move to the base would take two years to complete. She said there are many hurdles that the city needs to get through, which includes moving their request through the entire chain of command of the U.S. Army.
“I’m going to tell you these are pretty high bars to clear,” said Connet to the city council.
One of those bars that Los Al has already cleared is getting the endorsement of David S. Baldwin, who’s Adjutant General for the California National Guard. “He has bought off on the concept and is very supportive,” said Councilmember Dean Grose during an interview this week. Grose, who’s leading the way for the relocation to base, said he has been in close communication with Baldwin over the past year on the subject.
A reason Grose cited as to why city hall should move to the base is to keep the city departments together.
“Logistically, the city would like to keep everything together,” said Grose. “The only property that could take all of the city hall property is the Joint Forces Training Base.” Grose said that the city was looking at 13 different locations to move to but many of those have become unavailable.
To help with the decision, the city held meetings recently with Congressman Alan Lowenthal and Senator Janet Nguyen to have them weigh in on the situation. Both expressed the same feeling that dealing with Army would be “very, very slow,” said Los Al Mayor Richard Murphy.
Murphy said the city is not only focused on moving to the base but is also focused on assessing other options. “We could split things up or we could stay where we are,” said Murphy in an interview this week.
Currently, Los Al is still in exclusive discussions about the city hall property with Lincoln Property Company. No official sale of city hall has occurred yet, but when asked about how long that could take Murphy said “they might not buy it for one year or five years.”
