ERVING — The Selectboard has been discussing the proposal for a new public works office and dry storage facility, which has increased in size and cost to better meet the department’s needs.
The proposed site is a 0.8-acre parcel adjacent to the existing Publicly Owned Treatment of Wastewater (POTW) facility at the end of Public Works Boulevard.
The town’s fiscal year 2020 capital plan initially estimated the project to merely entail a dry storage garage that would cost around $500,000. Upon completion of a needs assessment and professional cost estimation, the proposal now entails a 8,500-square-foot dry storage and office facility estimated to cost around $4 million. The town worked with architects from Weston & Sampson Inc. The new draft design proposes a six-bay garage with a bid alternate recommendation for one bay to be a vehicle washing station, plus office space for superintendents.
“This project was originally proposed as a four-sided dry storage-only building, but the office space was added when changing OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) regulations forced two department heads to remove their offices from the POTW,” Assistant Town Planner Mariah Kurtz explained in an email.
Kurtz said she understands there might be “sticker shock” regarding the hike in cost, but the town has been carefully evaluating how large a facility is necessary. Weston & Sampson’s feasibility study describes the existing Highway Department storage garage as having “over 16 vehicles and pieces of heavy equipment representing millions of dollars in town assets with only a small portion of which can be protected from the elements.”
“The 33-foot overall length of the garage is too small to store vehicles, with shelving and workshop benches taking up additional space,” the study continues, “so that when trucks and other equipment are parked in the garage, it is difficult to maneuver safely through the space.”
“We don’t want to undersize the space so that there’s no room for growth,” Kurtz said of the future facility.
Although the cost and scale of the project have increased, Kurtz said designing the building to maximize efficiency and minimize spending is a priority.
“We originally considered two general options: an addition on the current Publicly Owned Treatment of Wastewater building for office space and a separate dry storage building, or one new building which had both dry storage and office space,” Kurtz explained. “It ended up being more expensive for less square feet to do an addition, and the space wouldn’t have been used as efficiently.”
The feasibility study for the project is currently still in drafting stages. The project’s next steps include going back through capital planning by the end of this month, appointing a building committee and having that committee choose an architect. Kurtz said regardless of what the project may entail structurally or financially, a new facility is necessary.
“Our Public Works Department serves the town every single day, often during less-than-ideal working conditions,” Kurtz wrote, “and the employees deserve safe and comfortable places to work.”
Reach Julian Mendoza at 413-772-0261, ext. 261 or jmendoza@recorder.com.