TOWN OFFICES BUILDING COMMITTEE PUBLIC MEETING
Date: June 21, 2006 at 7:30 PM
Lyme Elementary School Cafeteria
Present:
Committee Members: Michael Woodard, Acting Chair, Don Metz, Freda T. Swan, Letitia (“Tish”) Smith, Tony Pippin, Sr., Richard G. Jones, Selectmen’s Representative, Patricia G. Jenks, Town Clerk, and Carole A. Bont, Administrative Assistant.
Absent: Peter A. Bleyler, Chair, Jane Fant, and Thomas Hunton.
Consultant: Geoffrey Thornton, Architect of Thornton + Smith.
Guests: Marianne Alverson, Marcia Armstrong, Charles Balch, Russell (Buster) Balch, Mary Beck, Cynthia Bognolo, Frank Bowles, Dan Brand, Charlie Brenner, Simon Carr, Andrea Colgan, Don Cooke, Jennifer Cooke, Julia Elder, Marjorie (Linda) Goodrich, James Graham, Ann Hartmann, Evva Larson, Lee Larson, Carola Lea, Betty Lee, Margot Maddock, Stephen J. Maddock, Jeannie McIntyre, Sue McKenzie, Cybele Merrick, Adair Mulligan, Barbara Newton, Allan Newton, James Nichols, Lloyd Nichols, Helen North, Dan O’Hara, Dorothy (Dorf) W. Sears, Jr., Jean Smith, and Stuart V. (Mike) Smith.
This Public Meeting was called to order by Michael Woodard at 7:40 pm following an opportunity for attendees to view the diagrams and displays of each considered option. These displays included site plans, Town Office Sections and Police Department sections (layout).
Michael Woodward gave an overview of the history of the Facilities Search Committee and its mission and goals.
Geoffrey Thornton of Thornton and Smith Architects presented his explanation of the plans he had created for each site. He addresses questions and comments from the floor.
Cynthia Bognolo wondered about housing the Police Department with the Municipal Offices. Hanover does not do this. Richard Jones addressed this explaining that the present police facility is substandard and needs attention. As the Police Department interacts with other emergency departments usually on-scene only, and must visit the municipal offices on a daily basis to take care of the multitude of administrative issues they must take care of, it made sense that this committee consider having the two offices nearer each other.
Dan Brand, a traffic engineer encourages the town to consider locating these proposed offices closer to the village area and not off the busy and much faster traffic flow of Route10/Dartmouth College Highway.
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Date: June 21, 2006 at 7:30 PM continued
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Frank Bowles agreed with Mr. Brand for aesthetic reasons. He feels it’s critical to keep the focus of town government nearer the center of town.
James Graham supports the facility being in the center of town, and wonders about also having a coffee shop with the town offices if it were located in the Hardware Store site.
Don Cooke asked Postmaster Linda Goodrich how she felt about sharing the post Office space with the Town Offices. She replied she was pretty easy to get along with and wouldn’t mind a bit.
Marcia Armstrong worried that to remove the Town Office from the center of town would create “no more town”.
Lee Larson supported having the facility in town, and felt that having renters would be an asset to the town.
Concern was expressed that while the Hardware store site was a very good option, the layout would prohibit any natural light to all the work areas. Frank Bowles indicated that the store could be retrofitted to accommodate natural light using special sky-lights designed for multiple-floor levels.
Adair Mulligan pointed out the historical value of both Nichols and the Lyme Timber building.
Cynthia Bognolo expressed concern about the Lyme Timber site, citing zoning issues and Water Association rights. Richard Jones, speaking for the Board of Selectmen pointed out the this project would qualify for municipal exemption. He hopes that the public places enough trust in the Board of Selectmen to be assured they will act appropriately and with the best interest of the town when negotiating issues of this nature.
Margo Maddock asked if the Nichols family is agreeable to this discussion and to their property being considered for this purpose. Mike Woodard responded that there have been several discussions held with the Nichols’ and there is a willingness to continue discussions on the part of all three considered options.
Don Cooke mentioned the loss of tax revenue if using a large commercially taxed property for this purpose.
Marcia Armstrong asked if the Upper Valley Land Trust property was in conserved land. It is not.
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Dorf Sears expressed concern about the safe access to the UVLT site, particularly past the school.
Jennifer Cooke asked what kind of timeline the search committee is working with. Mike Woodard responded that proposals have to be prepared for Budget Committee consideration by the end of September 2006, bond rates have to be determined and meetings have to be held with the Budget Committee. Hopefully there will be a presentation ready for Town Meeting 2007.
Dorf Sears asked if other properties had been considered such as Tuckaway Timber. Mike Woodward indicated that indeed several sites had been considered and because of timing issues, location issues or other concerns, they had been set aside for design purposes during this phase of the search committee’s activity. Don Metz also responded from an architectural point of view about some of these sites and the cost of retrofitting them.
Lee Larson asked if this meeting would consider a straw vote to determine location preference and then current considered site preference. It was agreed to do this following a bit more discussion.
Sue MacKenzie indicated she appreciates the concept of a new building designed and built the way we need it to be.
Adair Mulligan asked how the Board of Selectmen felt about being a potential landlord. Richard Jones replied they hadn’t really discussed this particular issue yet.
Jeannie McIntyre expressed concern about the Town of Lyme taking over the last commercial space in the immediate village area.
Frank Bowles wondered what retail business that would be. While he appreciated Jeannie’s concern, he feels it’s unlikely that we’d find any one business able or willing to take over such a large area.
The meeting moved to a straw vote:
A majority of attendees voted that the Town Offices should be kept near the common area.
A majority of attendees voted that the Nichols property was preferable to the Lyme Timber site.
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Mike Woodward thanks everyone for taking the time to attend this meeting and invited folks to continue looking at the displays.
Cybele Merrick asked if handouts could be created and distributed to keep people informed of the committee’s considerations and progress. The committee will work on this.
Ann Hartmann asked if the Tuckaway parcel could be considered if the price were reduced. It was pointed out that it certainly could, but it would still require significant retrofit cost than others considered at this time.
This meeting was adjourned at 9:15 pm.
Patty Jenks, recorder
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