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Two years ago, Fort Worth officials announced its new City Hall project would go over budget by millions of dollars. Now, City Council members are poised to approve a settlement with the surveying company whose work they hold partially responsible for the cost increase. After discovering part of the project site — where the new council chambers were planned — falls into a federal floodway easement, the city was forced to spend an additional $7.6 million on the project due to delays and unexpected permitting costs. The project’s contractors had relied on a survey produced by Blue Sky Surveying and Mapping that approximated the boundaries of a federal floodway easement rather than identifying its exact location, according to previous reporting. Using that survey information, contractors planned to build council chambers on a small area free of floodway restrictions — only to find out the land was subject to floodway restrictions after all. “We really relied on the survey in planning for construction at the new City Hall, and that’s what happens when you hire someone,” Mayor Pro Tem Gyna Bivens said. “You depend on them to do a good job.” After realizing the oversight, the city made a claim against Blue Sky and David R. Petree, the company’s director. Prior to filing a formal lawsuit, the city and Blue Sky entered mediation and agreed to a $650,000 settlement on Jan. 8, according to the city’s legal team. Petree did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.The settlement is expected to be up for final council approval during their Feb. 25 meeting. It comes as the city prepares to transition all City Hall operations from its longtime headquarters at 200 Texas St. to the new City Hall at 100 Fort Worth Trail. Many staff have already moved over to the new building, formerly the Pier 1 headquarters; the city anticipates holding its first council meeting there in early spring 2025.The city first purchased the building and surrounding land in 2021. Construction on the new council chambers began in summer 2023. The project initially had a budget of $180 million; that later ballooned to $230.5 million. Tanyan Farley, who is managing the project for Athenian Group, said five main factors contributed to the increase: federal floodway requirements, added scope, added staff, maintenance and inflation.For Bivens, the transition to the new City Hall is a long time coming. Only she and District 2 council member Carlos Flores were on council when the City Council voted unanimously to purchase the building in December 2020 for $69.5 million. In the years since, many new faces have joined the dais, and the city is preparing to welcome a new city manager later this month.“When you look at the price that (City Manager) David Cooke was able to negotiate for the building, even in spite of this hiccup, we still got a steal of a deal,” Bivens said. “It’s a wonderful place to be, and I do believe this Fort Worth City Hall will be deemed just as iconic as the Philadelphia City Hall. It is a great building.”