May 11, 2017 at 12:16 p.m.
Site options presented for red brick schoolhouse and community center
Funktion Design Studio presents five options
Site options presented for red brick schoolhouse and community center
By Abbey McEnroe-
Site options for the red brick schoolhouse and community center addressed square footage deficits. The current community center has a total of 12,770 square feet, while standard square feet is calculated at 24,050 and the Funktion's proposed square feet totals 21,725. The red brick schoolhouse has a total of 5,172 square feet. Funktion design also proposed 4,400 square feet for town offices.
This brings the total square footage to 23,114 with the standard square footage equalling 29,250 and the proposed square footage being 26,925.
Option one
Option one involves no new additions and simply utilizes the red brick building.
"The first option is not doing any additions to either of the buildings. So what that means is that the town hall will go into the red brick schoolhouse with alterations," Hamlin explained.
The building would include a history room, rentable meeting rooms and would be ADA accessible.
Utilizing the current building would add 1,500 square feet but leave a 3,811-square-foot deficit from the proposed square footage.
Option two
Option two utilizes the red brick schoolhouse and makes an addition to the community center.
This option gives a surplus of 1,144 square feet.
The town hall, history room and rentable spaces would be moved to the red brick building.
Option three
Option three demolishes the 1965 portion of the brick building and adds square footage to the community center.
The red brick schoolhouse would house the town hall and history room and add an entrance to resolve the square footage deficit and add accessibility.
Option four
Option four would demolish the red brick building and make up the square footage deficit by adding to the existing community center.
The current Community Center would double in size.
Option five
Option five is the most dramatic of the options, demolishing both the current community center and red brick schoolhouse and constructing an entirely new building.
This building could be placed anywhere but the map presented at the meeting depicts it on the baseball field to the west of the current community center.
"Depending on how you want your site to function you have a couple different options or you might have a totally new site," Hamlin said.
Discussion on the options
Hamlin then opened up the floor for discussion and questions regarding the site options.
"It's meant to be an open discussion to get some feedback," Hamlin explained.
St. Germain supervisor Ted Ritter asked how they could assume the cost of all five options would be the same.
Hamlin said the costs would not be the same for the five options and the purpose of the presentation that day was to look at the programming and square footage needs.
"Basically what our thought process is if we go through this we start to look at the square footage again, the programming, we really start to narrow down what the square footage needs are that you have," Hamlin said.
A community member asked whether it would be cheaper to maintain one building instead of two.
Hamlin said yes, one building would be easier to maintain, but the buildings still need a lot of work to get up to code.
"Anything you would want to save here in square footage we would want to bring the building up to code," Hamlin said. "So that means energy code and building code. So you're going to have an expense in either building as far as bringing them up so you can maintain utilities, your heat level, efficiency, and that comfort level."
Another community member asked if the red brick schoolhouse was structurally sound after so many years of vacancy.
Hamlin answered, yes it is structurally sound and needs minimal work on the beams.
Supervisor Jim Swenson went on to ask about the life expectancy for the buildings.
"Is the life expectancy for each of the options given the program time frame, would it be good for 20 years? 30 years? 40 years?" Swenson asked.
"So one of the things we've talked about in the workshop is building something for 40 plus years," Hamlin responded. "So what that means is if we do any work in any of the existing buildings we want to bring them up so they're also on the same maintenance schedule and longevity of the building."
Community and board members continued to have open discussion and ask questions regarding parking spaces, septic tanks, and what would happen to the ball fields. All of these topics, Hamlin explained, would be discussed at the next workshop date on June 12.
According to the Funktion agenda, the June 12 meeting will involve developing "the optimum facility recommendations for space size and use based upon the town's present and future needs."
This meeting will also involve Funktion presenting their facility recommendations to the town and incorporating the town's comments and recommendations in the final space.
The presentation ended with multiple community members expressing their satisfaction.
The board also
• Implemented a 200 gallon limit on the seasonal road weight limits ordinance.
• Directed the chairman to write to the bond company and request relief under the bond regarding the installation of the culvert on Big St. Germain Drive.
Abbey McEnroe may be reached via email at [email protected].
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