couple of thoughts..
how many teeth are on that hybrid crank? your granny gear might be bolted on separately from your double so you might be able to take it off and be done with it?? Or if the 1x9 sounds good, you can get short stack bolts and use one of the rings making your crank a singlespeed crank.
Have you thought about the type of bars you are going to ride? Northroads, drops, straight bar? Not sure if you like drops, but the midge on ones seem to be popular for this sort of build which would allow you to use STIs or road levers/barcons. Or, you can also incorporate the paul thumbies in there...
..it almost sounds like a cx/commuter is sort of what you are after. I have two surly cross checks that I use for grocery runs, commuting, trails. One is a city bike with upright bars with the stock 2x9 setup. The other is my wanna be 1x9 cross bike with drops.