Input on train station wanted
LAWRENCE - More changes to the Santa Fe Station are on the way, but not without input from the public first.
Stan Hernly's architectural firm designed changes to the building, but officials want the public's opinion before work begins. "The main things at the meeting is just to kind of take the temperature of the public," says Hernly. "It gives us a chance to explain what we are planning to do and see if that fits with what they want to have done."
Some of the work includes additional bathroom space, a geothermal heating and cooling system, storms windows, and repairs to the roof. The city is also thinking about making this the primary downtown bus transit hub and moving it away from the 9th and New Hampshire location.
Amtrak has signed on to pay for handicapped accessories to the building, and Hearnly says his firm's designs are bundled by project. That way, construction could be done in phases and the city could pay for them as money becomes available. "The goals for the whole project would be to have a building and a site that is used in it's optimum way and still keep the building true to it's historic character," says Hernly.
The building has been in the community since it was originally built in the 1950s. The meeting will take place February 1st at 5:00 p.m. at the station on 7th street.