Vernal City Municipal Center

As the commercial and urban center for the Uintah Basin, Vernal City provides most of the services to most of the surrounding region. Vernal City’s municipal services were in an outdated building that had undergone one renovation but needed to be updated to meet the region’s growing municipal services requirements. Vernal City took proactive steps towards ensuring the safety and well-being of its citizens by relocating and engaging with Galloway to provide programming, architectural design, interior design, and landscape design services to design a new city hall, police, and justice courts.

Through visioning workshops and site planning sessions with the City, Galloway successfully addressed the critical need for additional space, provided enhanced security measures to protect the community, and showed the community a sense of transparency through the expansive windows facing the main street. The council chamber was designed with dual functions to be flexible enough to function as the justice court. The facility offers vital extra space, addresses security concerns, and creates a true civic center for the City.

The project incorporates many sustainable strategies and achieved a LEED® Silver rating with the USGBC. One key strategy to achieve this sustainability goal was using a ground-source heat exchange system below the parking lot.

The facility serves the following functions: administration offices, community development offices, engineering offices, the finance office, the police department, and the justice court.