Town of Newbury
Municipal Building Committee
MINUTES
DATE: October 8, 2015 Approved as Written, 11/5/2015
Present: Eric Svahn, Chair; Tracy Blais; Mike Doyle; Steve Fram; Sam Joslin; John Lucey, Jr.; Martha Taylor
Absent: Richard Ronder; Nathan Walker
Guests: Damon Jespersen, Selectmen’s Liaison to MBC; Peter Erickson; Alicia Greco; Adele & Bob Krumpholz; Robin Lawson; Jim Moran; Kathy Murray; Joe Story; Fred Thurlow; Geof Walker; Cary Boyd
Eric Svahn, Chair, called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m.
Motion: A motion was made by Sam Joslin and seconded by Mike Doyle to approve the minutes of September 29, 2015, as written. The motion passed unanimously.
- Follow up to Meeting of October 3, 2015:
E. Svahn recapped the outcome of the October 3, 2015 special Selectmen’s meeting and the charge that was given to the Municipal Building Committee – to move forward with further investigation of the option to construct a new Town Hall/Police Station on the existing Town Hall/PD site. The Committee’s work will include updating the feasibility study previously done by CSS Architects for this option, getting a second opinion on the cost, and preparing a presentation regarding the proposed project that can be readily understood by everyone. He said that the basic charge still
holds – to develop the best long-term plan to solve the most municipal facility needs in the most cost-effective way possible.
He then gave a PowerPoint presentation summarizing estimated construction costs and soft costs for this option and giving an overview of the State’s requirements for designing and constructing public facilities. The goal will be to take the appropriate steps needed to confirm the project scope, requirements, and cost, hire an Owner’s Project Manager, and have a cost for the entire project ready for a vote at the Spring 2016 Annual Town Meeting, followed by a ballot question in May.
E. Svahn’s presentation included a brief review of the plans that CSS had developed previously for both a new Town Hall/Police Station and for an addition to the existing building. He noted that these plans had been done to confirm that the program could fit on the site and to compare the options. The space needs program will be reviewed and refined as part of the feasibility study update. Concerns and questions were then raised by several at the meeting about the tightness of the site, expansion potential, parking, handicapped accessibility, and temporary locations for Police and Town Hall employees during construction.
Discussion then turned to public outreach and the best means for reaching residents and communicating information on the project. T. Blais noted that the Town will be rolling out a new website in December which will include links to Facebook and Twitter.
Questions were then raised about the appropriateness of using the Town Hall site versus other options, such as separating Town Hall and the Police Station and locating the Police Station elsewhere, such as on Route 1. G. Walker said that the Selectmen felt strongly that it was very important to have public sewer on site for a municipal building. D. Jespersen added that the task at hand was to review the feasibility study that had been done for the Town Hall/Police Station site and to move forward with developing it into a project to present at the Spring Town Meeting.
The next steps will be to review and update the CSS feasibility study for a new Town Hall/Police Station on the existing Town Hall site, get an independent cost estimate, hire an Owner’s Project Manager, and develop a presentation on the project for the April 2016 Town Meeting.
On a motion made by T. Blais and seconded by S. Joslin, the meeting was adjourned at 9:07 p.m.
NEXT MEETING:
TBD
Respectfully submitted,
Martha L. Taylor, Town Planner
MBC Secretary
| 
