Facilities Steering Committee, Phase II
Town of Princeton, MA
meeting minutes for 3/13/19
6pm at town hall annex
Attending for the committee: Ian Catlow, Richard Chase, Rick McCowen, Dennis Moore, Larry Todd
Richard opened the meeting opened at 6 pm.
The minutes of 2/26/19 and 2/27/19 were approved.
Ian handed out a report he wrote of the meeting he and Rick had on 3/7 with police chief Michele Powers, fire chief John Bennett and deputy Tim Kelley. They reviewed the space requirements for police and fire in a new building. There were a number of areas reviewed and although there was agreement on many there were still questions regarding the need for a break room, meeting room and a training room.
There was a comment that we need to stick with the minimum space needed to meet code requirements and operational needs because this would most likely pass at town meeting.
Richard showed a drawing of a possible layout of the building with the apparatus bays at a diagonal per input from Keith Chenot a Princeton Architect. This would potentially easy the turning required to enter and exit the facility for the vehicles. There was some discussion but no agreement.
Ian and Richard researched previous state bond bills and what communities received funding. Richard was looking for information which could help Princeton to obtain state funding. For example, Ian found the town of Ashland has approved spending $3.5M for design fees with expectation of receiving $25 million from the State Bond Bill for their public safety building. This information has been given to the Select Board who has retained responsibility for securing State Bond Bill funds.
Rick, Ian and Richard looked at many firms that has designed a number of public safety projects. They were looking for possible design concepts as well as comparative costs per sq ft. There was one project in New Hampshire with a cost of $300 per sq ft for a very basic building, but most of the other projects were in the range of $450 to $500 per sq ft. The plan reviewed by the chiefs was in the range of $455 per sq ft at a cost of $8.6 million. Ian cautioned that citing sample projects from other states is risky due to differences in bid law, building code and prevailing wage requirements among other factors.
There was discussion of possible phasing of the Princeton facility to spread out the cost impact; phase one the basic building, phase two adding one half of the space on a second floor, phase three adding the rest of the second floor.
The FSC needs to go to Town Meeting with a request for funding for first a revised set of conceptual drawings, layouts and cost estimates. Second at a later Town Meeting funding for a detailed design. A firm with lots of experience in public safety would add credibility to the project presentation. Reference was made to the Space Needs Study for the Central Fire Station in Westford, MA and a police station in Orleans, MA.
A motion was made and approved to terminate the contract with JWA and pursue a design firm with greater experience with public safety.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:04.
Submitted by Larry Todd, clerk
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