The Lakeland City Council has nixed a plan to purchase a commercial building in town for its next city hall.

The council voted 3-2 on Tuesday night not to buy the Telus commercial building at 84 St. Croix Trail S. for $525,000; Mayor Bob Craggs and council member Canaan Martin voted in favor of the purchase.

Lakeland City Council member David Millard said a majority of residents who came to a recent open house and spoke at a public forum were in favor of building a new city hall on city-owned land just north of the city’s water department building at 1190 St. Croix Trail S. The location – a concrete slab – is the site of where a city hall that was under construction was destroyed by an apparent act of arson in 2016. No one has been charged or convicted in the case.

“I was so encouraged

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