Facilities Steering Committee
Meeting minutes for 3/11/18
1:00 pm at town hall annex
Attending for the committee: Chris Conway, Karen Cruise, Steve Mirick, Larry Todd, Mary Jo Wojtusik
Attending for Jones Whitsett Architects: Margo Jones
Attending for the town: BOS, Edith Morgan
Attending for the advisory committee: Judy Dino
Karen opened the meeting at 1:10 pm
Chris and Steve will take everyone on a tour of Bagg Hall, the public safety complex and the annex to review present conditions and concerns.
Chris led the tour and pointed out various areas of concern as each building was reviewed.
2:10 The group concluded the tour and Margo Jones opened the JWA presentation. She gave a thorough explanation of each slide. She pointed out that the proposed large addition to Bagg Hall would provide space for community functions in addition to the building continuing to serve as the town offices and provide access to the currently unused 2nd floor (now used for storage).
Karen gave a brief update on the FSC activity. The committee recently conferred with the board of selectmen and the advisory committee and is working on warrant articles for town meeting. There has been an ongoing effort to reach out to the community and all information is available to the public.
The meeting was opened to questions and comments from the public.
Did we review a smaller addition to Bagg Hall ? Margo responded and explained the cost difference between a smaller addition and the addition being proposed was not significant.
Question regarding the state preservation restriction on Bagg Hall. Margo said the state would have some oversight but didn’t feel, based on her experience, it would be an obstacle.
Did the cost estimates include design fees ? Yes.
There were questions regarding the average assessed value of $342K for property in Princeton. This figure comes from the tax data and the proposed tax increase of $550 per year on this value is based on accepting option A as presented, where funding for both a new public safety building (new or add/reno) and an addition to Bagg Hall are approved by the voters.
The presentation also included options B and C which would spread the work out over a longer period of time. (Note: the material presented is available through the town website)
The FSC is working with the BOS and AC regarding the long term debt burden.
With a new public safety building, will we continue to use fire station 2 ? Yes, because it is needed to provide coverage due to the land area and topology of Princeton.
Is there any federal or state money available for the proposed projects ? Edith responded and said there may be state funding at some point but it is uncertain. Princeton is trying to make their needs known at the state level.
There was a question regarding how we arrived at the town requirements for the proposals. Are the proposals based on town needs or wants ? Are there objective criteria, ie. state standards which we used to guide the design of the proposals. What research have we done ?
Margo responded that there were no standards to guide a community in, say, the space needs for town departments, however, their study included a review with each town department to determine their needs. JWA also compared data from projects in other communities of similar size.
Karen responded that the FSC has worked to get all the information we can from the town departments, including police, fire, and community groups.
Steve commented that there are recommendations for public safety from the state but no required standards.
The FSC is working with the best information available. Chris pointed out the committee has been working since last summer and explained how we came to recommend JWA and the process leading to the current proposals.
Joyce Anderson from the Historical Commission said she supports the efforts of the committee.
Bunny Bullock commented that all questions are useful. She felt an increase in taxes may be an issue.
Steve noted the town has invested in its roads for the past 20 years and now it is time to invest in the buildings. The longer we wait the higher the cost will be.
Phil Gransewicz said he favors option A because it gets the community what it needs sooner that the other options.
Karen said the final report from JWA will be available in 1-½ to 2 weeks.
Someone asked if the $6.8 mil for public safety includes the add/reno option. No, and it may add $500K to the cost.
There was a question regarding the center school site. Chris explained that it is by far the best location for public safety. The committee did review other property owned by the town.
There was a question regarding the number of parking spaces needed at Bagg Hall. The proposed addition and removal of the annex and public safety will nearly double the parking. The need for parking varies with the number of functions going on.
Carl Soderberg, a new member of the Historic Commission, said he supported the work of the committee.
The FSC concluded the public presentation and held a brief discussion with Margo Jones. The figures for necessary work to the annex were reviewed by Steve and Chris in detail and the revised figure is $300K. They also reviewed short term work on public safety and the figure remains at $100K.
The meeting was adjourned at 4pm.
Submitted by Larry Todd, secretary
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