Date: Fri 25-Dec-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: STEVEB

Quick Words:

Space-Needs-office

Full Text:

Space Needs Panel Tries To Focus Its Work

BY STEVE BIGHAM

David Vallerie scratched his head two months ago when architects from Kaestle

Boos Associates presented the town with a list of 13 options for addressing

its municipal space needs.

In his opinion, the architects were presenting the solution before the town

had fully determined what the problem was -- not to mention its needs. Last

week, the Municipal Space Needs Committee member urged his fellow members to

put those 13 scenarios aside for a while.

"We need to come up with a consensus about what is important to us and the

town. Then we need to give direction back to the architect on how to solve our

problem," he said. "With those 13 scenarios, we would have been debating

without clearly defining what the issues are."

The 13 scenarios include variations of the re-use of Edmond Town Hall and Town

Hall South, while others called for the construction of a new municipal

building. Mr Vallerie said he never even looked at them. In his opinion,

architects are very space-oriented and want to jump right to the solution.

"It's the cart before the horse," he said. "We need to define what the

sensitive issues are. Once we get those out in the open, then we have our

strategy."

Mr Vallerie said some of the 13 scenarios may end up matching the committee's

strategy. "That's fine," he said, "but I didn't want to hear that two months

ago."

Last week, the committee began to brainstorm as it pieced together its

strategy. Everyone appears to be on the same page, according to chairman Bill

Brimmer.

"We asked Kaestle Boos to give us some scenarios. Now we've come up with ideas

of what we want," he said. "Now we go back to the scenarios to see which ones

fit. Otherwise, we may come up with different ones."

Everyone on the seven-member committee, except Robert Hall, agreed that all

town offices should ideally be located in one location. Members also agreed

that Edmond Town Hall and Town Hall South should both continue to be used, in

at least some limited capacity. All deferred maintenance in these buildings

needs to be completed, the committee said.

Mr Hall warned the committee against putting all town employees in one

location.

"If you say yes (to having all town offices in one location), you may create a

result you may not want," he said. If you put them all in one you may be

abandoning Edmond Town Hall."

Mr Hall prefers keeping some offices in Edmond Town Hall with land-use offices

in another building.

Also, noted Mr Vallerie, building a new municipal building will not address

the deferred maintenance needs in the existing buildings.

The committee also agreed that, it practical terms, it would be nice to have

the Board of Education in the same building as other town offices. Committee

member Charles Nanavaty, who also serves on the school board, said

consolidating town and school administrative offices might eliminate the

perceived polarization between the two. However, Mr Brimmer said he would

object to spending a lot more money in order to make it a reality.

The committee also agreed that the Hook & Ladder Fire Company is in need of a

new building, possibly on a new site. The existing building has some serious

structural problems and no longer fits the needs of the department.

Last week, the committee viewed a land map which indicated the borough owned a

small 1.2 acre piece of land off Sugar Street behind Town Hall South. This

land was recently donated to the Borough by a group of developers called

Norough of Newtown, LLC, which is developing three building lots in the area.

However, the area is mostly wetlands and would probably not be suitable for

building, according to Jean St Jean.

According to a Kaestle Boos report, the town could bring Edmond Town Hall up

to code and improved its mechanical systems at a cost of $3.7 million. For

$5.7 million, the building could undergo a reconfiguration of space. Neither

of these costs would include the construction of any addition. However, a

$6,000-square-foot addition would cost an extra million dollars ($6.9

million).

The estimated cost of addressing deferred maintenance at Town hall South is

nearly $700,000 and $400,000 for Hook & Ladder. These figures do not include

costs for the abatement of hazardous materials or structural repairs.