Laserfiche WebLink
CAPITAL EXPENDITURES COMMITTEE REPORT TO NOVEMBER 13, 2018, STM(2018-1) <br /> demand, we all must judge that each project we approve and its timing are both justified and <br /> prudent. <br /> Normally this Committee would oppose this project because of the absence of a long-term <br /> Capital plan and adequate modeling of the financing challenges the Town faces. However, we <br /> have been assured there will be a new model that includes this project before the 2019 ATM. <br /> Further, as there is need for completing this project by 2024, that requires the construction <br /> funding be in FY2020 in that new model. We are assuming the Town will prioritize this project <br /> so that will be the case—which may require delaying other large capital projects. <br /> While this appropriation is to provide for 100% design and construction document, we expect <br /> there will be a cost estimate delivered at the 75% design, a "checkpoint", that will provide <br /> confidence in the current $9,372,350 construction cost estimate. <br /> Finally, our unanimous support for this appropriation is predicated on cash funding, but not from <br /> the Capital Stabilization Fund. <br /> ARTICLE 5: Fund <br /> APPROPRIATE FOR Authorization Funding Source Committee <br /> HOSMER HOUSE Requested Recommends <br /> REUSE STUDY <br /> $50,000 Cash (see below) Approval (6-0) <br /> "To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate a sum of money to fund the Hosmer House <br /> Building Feasibility Study; determine whether the money shall be provided by the tax levy, by <br /> transfer from available funds, by borrowing, or by any combination of these methods; or act in <br /> any other manner in relation thereto." <br /> "DESCRIPTION: In light of the police station design project being approved in 2017, the <br /> Hosmer House will need to be relocated in order for construction of a new police station to <br /> move forward. This study will best determine the location (current or off-site) for the Hosmer <br /> House, cost to move the building and proposed use of the building." <br /> (Town Warrant) <br /> The Hosmer House, built in 1841, has been a fixture in Lexington's town center and was used <br /> for several Town administrative functions from the 1930s until the building was finally vacated <br /> in 2009. <br /> In 2010, the Department of Public Facilities commissioned a study performed by Bargmann <br /> Hendrie + Archetype to come up with several scenarios for preserving the Hosmer House. At the <br /> 2012 ATM, under Article 16(e), $381,000 was appropriated to stabilize the foundation and the <br /> exterior envelope of the main house ($232,410) and to demolish the rest of the structure <br /> ($148,590). The work was completed in FY2016. The Historic District Commission (HDC) had <br /> ruled prior to that ATM that the building could not be moved off the current site (the plot next to <br /> the Police Station and bounded on three sides by Massachusetts Avenue, Woburn Street, and <br /> Fletcher Avenue) and to outside the Historic District, but was interested in the House being <br /> stabilized and discussing possibly moving the House elsewhere on the current site. No further <br /> funds have been appropriated to investigate a future role for the Hosmer House. <br /> The current design for the new Police Station requires that the Hosmer House be moved and <br /> $1,100,000 is included in the latest Police Station construction budget to do that on the same site. <br /> 3 <br />