American Canyon City Council meetings take place at the municipal recreation center on Elliott Drive because City Hall, a former bank building on Crawford Way, is too small.

Members of the public who attend the meetings sits on folding chairs in a narrow area that fills to overflowing when the council has an important piece of business. The chairs have to be stowed after every event, as the same room is used for senior gatherings and activities for children.

As a result, the city is considering other options, and may move City Hall to a new commercial building on Highway 29 temporarily.

Cabernet Village, a two-story office building near Napa Junction Road that opened in April 2006, is “one of the options” for City Hall, according to City Manager Rich Ramirez. He declined to say which other two to three locations were under consideration, saying a city report was not yet final.

The two-story Cabernet Village building faces Napa Junction, the new development that includes the still-vacant Wal-Mart Supercenter building, other retail stores and an apartment complex. A traffic signal is expected to be installed at Napa Junction Road and Highway 29.

Ramirez said the proposed locations for a new City Hall would be part of “an options paper” the City Council requested this summer.

The city currently leases 4,600 square feet at Canyon Plaza, for $10,000 a month, to house its planning and building departments, former Interim City Manager Dayle Keller reported in July.

The City Council, which shelved plans for a new City Hall building about four years ago when costs were estimated at $4 million, last discussed a new City Hall and new Council Chambers in July.

Cabernet Village Chief Executive Officer and President John Cochran said Cabernet and the city are in the middle of negotiations for a long-term lease of the second floor — a 12,722 square-foot area. A decision could be reached next month, he said.

The building is home to several companies, including Cabernet, Eagle Vine Realty, Napa Land Title, the American Canyon School of Music and a local law firm, Gravett & Frater.

It is not yet determined if the city will negotiate a lease/purchase agreement, Ramirez said.

Cochran said that before negotiations began, the building’s monthly lease was $2.50 per square foot.

Land for a permanent American Canyon civic building has been set aside at Town Center, a 100-acre development east of Highway 29. The development is still in the planning stages.

Former City Manager Mark Joseph, who recommended the city buy a property for City Hall instead of swapping one lease for another, said City Hall moved to Crawford Way when the city outgrew that space. The city bought the bank building in addition to another 2 1/2 acres, which it later sold. That land is now part of Canyon Plaza, he said.