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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009-01-12-CPC-min Community Preservation Committee Monday, January 12, 2009 Legion Room 4:30 pm Present: Betsey Weiss, Chair; Marilyn Fenollosa, Vice Chair; Joel Adler, Norman Cohen, Wendy Manz, Nathalie Rice, Admin. Asst.; Sandy Shaw and Dick Wolk. The meeting was called to order at 4:35 pm. The purpose of the meeting was to review two projects before the CPC for funding in FY 2010. 1.Town Office Building Renovation Project – Linda Vine and Pat Goddard were in attendance to discuss the Town Offices Renovation Project. Mr. Goddard opened the discussion by explaining that the Town Manager’s Office has reconsidered the scope of the Town Offices Renovation project in order to more fully explore the needs of the Town Office Departments. He said that the original request to the CPC for 1.2M was predicated on a design cost of 80,000, and a subsequent “fast track” renovation. After considering the project, it became clear that the 1.2M estimated cost might not suffice for the types of renovations needed. Mr. Goddard and Ms. Vine explained that the construction estimate did not include any changes to interior walls, and did not take into consideration the co- location of departments with similar public functions, such as those in Community Development. They said they realized the process had been accelerated at an unrealistic pace, and needed to be slowed in order to more carefully design a more inclusive scope of work. With that in mind, the Town Managers’ Office would be resubmitting a request for less funding from the CPC, in all likelihood, $30,000. This would enable the Town’s office design team to consider the project over the next year, work with the design consultant, and determine the most essential upgrades. The team would then go to the various committee involved, and decide upon the best plan with which to move forward. The request to the CPC for construction monies would follow for FY 2011. Ms. Fenollosa questioned Mr. Goddard and Ms. Vine about whether they would pursue the Town Office renovations without CPC funding. They responded that they felt the upgrades to Town Offices were needed, particularly in the areas of ADA upgrades and fire safety. Ms. Vine explained that there is now no ADA bathroom on the second floor to serve Selectmen’s Meeting Room, and Mr. Goddard added that the interior stairwells are not up to code from a fire safety standpoint. Ms. Weiss asked how the Town Office renovation project “stacked up” to the project before the CPC for upgrades to the Fire Headquarters. Mr. 1 Goddard said he felt the more important project was the utility of the Fire Headquarters. Ms. Weiss asked Ms. Vine if there was any chance of the Human Services Department relocating in Town Offices. Ms. Vine addressed this issue, stating that the Human Services presently occupied 10,000 square feet of space, and physically would not fit in Town Offices. A general discussion of the Human Services and Youth Services department ensued Mr. Adler suggested that the Town office design team should carefully consider what can be done with temporary wall dividers, which would be far less expensive than tearing down and rebuilding permanent walls. He said it was his experience that temporary reconfiguration could accomplished a great deal at a very reasonable cost. 2.Fire Headquarters Renovation and Redesign Update – At the request of the Committee, Mr. Goddard updated those present on the progress of the Fire Headquarters Renovation and Redesign Project. He said there was still not consensus on the most appropriate plan of the three options (ie, A, B, or C). He reported that discussions with the Historic District Commission had opened up the topic to re-evaluation. What is likely is that additional study monies will be sought, in the range of $100,000, with approximately $29,700 requested from the CPC. The additional monies would extend the design period and allow for continued community input. Ms. Weiss asked who the design consultant would be for the continued work, to which Mr. Goddard replied that it would be the McGuire Group, who has done the design work to date. 3.Executive Session – At 5:25 pm, the Committee voted unanimously to enter into Executive Session for the purposes of discussing land acquisitions, such discussions if held in Open Session, could jeopardize the negotiations for the purchases. The Committee also voted to return to Open Session after the Executive Session. The Committee returned to Open Session at 5:37. The Meeting was adjourned at 5:40 pm. Respectfully submitted, Nathalie Rice Administrative Assistant Community Preservation Committee 2