TIME & PLACE:

Meeting September 19, 2001 at 7:00 PM at Canterbury Town Hall

ATTENDANCE:

Kent Ruesswick
Bob Fife
Charlie Cook
Mike Capone – Selectman Representative
Ted West
Ken Jordan
Beth Blair

Meeting began at 7 PM

Kent questions: How should CBNC interact with the Historic District commission? What control do they have over what may be built in the center? Mike says he will bring it up at the next selectmen meeting

Public Meeting set for September 26th at the Town hall moved to the Sam Lake House due to work on the shelves for the Canterbury Store currently being done in the town hall.

Ken Jordan presents numbers he has gathered from Marshall and Swift Valuation Guide (MSVG), as well as an hour long discussion he had with an appraiser.

MSVG has detailed descriptions as well as pictures of various municipal/commercial buildings with an estimate of per square foot building costs.

Interesting note: Ken found many similarities between the type of building we would want to build for the Public Works Garage and the buildings described as airplane hangars.

Ken presented segregated costs and then averaged them together as a working guess-timate for what public works garage might cost per square foot.

$32 + a square foot — Basic building costs for section of the garage that would house equipment
$75 + a square foot — More finished living space (office, bathroom, sleeping quarters, etc.)

Figure $50 - $60 a square foot for Public Works garage.

Kent estimates size of P.W. Garage needed would be 4,000 square feet (based on what we currently have, adjusted up a bit as per additional space requested by Phil Stone). Therefore figure approximate cost of P.W. Garage to be $250,000

Cost per square foot to build Life Safety building (combined Fire and Police) increases dramatically because there will be more specialty finished space (meeting and training rooms, showers, bunkhouse, etc.) Estimate more like $80 a square foot. Square footage that Chief Dale Caswell mentioned to us when we met earlier this year was 9,000 sq. ft. That would make approximate cost of Life Safety building $750,000. Something in numbers doesn’t compute, since in CIP Dale had given a figure of $400,000 for a new life Safely building. That comes down to 5,000 square feet if you use the $80 a sq. ft. price. Possibility that if the Life Safety building has two floors, that the second floor would be cheaper than $80 a sq. ft. thereby brining down the average per foot price.

Kent called around and found that the town of Atkinson recently built just a Fire Station of 8,000 sq. ft. with an unfinished second floor. Cost of project $800,000.

Discussion continues on how to prepare the committee’s report as well as how to prepare for next week’s public meeting. Should we present one plan, or shall we present two plans that encompasses different options and respective price tags?

Committee decides not to focus on price at the public meeting, but to have two plans prepared and outlined to stimulate discussion.

Discussion at the meeting will start with the general agreement that the Public works garage should move from the center, and general findings/feelings of the committee on what the next suitable site would be (including pros and cons of exit 18, and the circumstances surrounding the approaching "need to cap" the landfill at the dump).

Discussion will continue on the topic of once the P.W. Garage is moved to the dump, what will happen to the current garages?

Plan One: Public Works garages renovated to house the Library

Discussion to include: size/cost differences between renovating the current library vs. remaking the garage; new access/egress for the Fire department down Creamery Road and around fire pond; plans to add second floor to current fire station and add access from the fire pond level; plans for renovating Town hall by adding handicap access, bathrooms, renovating basement; how current paved area behind Town Hall could be used for parking for library and Town hall; plans for the empty Elkins Library; affect on the centralization of Town center.

Plan Two: Fire Department expands into the empty garage space

Discussion to include: how this will affect usefulness of a renovated Town Hall, access/egress for fire station to allow parking by Town hall, library expanding in current location, affect on Town Center by having library across the intersection, cost of renovation on this site vs. building elsewhere, etc.
Kent, Ted, Beth and whoever else from the committee wishes to attend will meet at Kent’s house Sunday night to draft the outlines.

Note: Town just a notice from the DRA that we will need to reevaluate by 2006. Mike figures this process might cost $75,000 to $90,000

NEXT MEETING:

The next meeting will be in one week, on 9/26/01 at 7 PM at Canterbury Town Offices (Sam Lake House) as a community meeting, to invite input from community members.