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Townsend, Del. —
At a public hearing Wednesday night, Townsend town engineer Tom Wilkes said that construction on the new town hall could be finished as early as this year.
Once mayor and council give the green light, it will take between six and nine months for construction on the 22,000-square-foot building slated to be built in the town’s municipal park in Townsend Village I to be built.
“We want to give the people a town hall,” councilwoman Karen Jennings said.
Currently, the town occupies a building that is leased to them for no money through a verbal agreement with a local family.
There is no written lease or contract for the building the town’s employees work from on South Street.
“We don’t have a town hall,” Mayor Steve High said. “We occupy a building.”
Before moving totes and desks into the South Street building, council members would carry boxes filled with documents around to different members’ homes, churches and the Fire Hall to conduct their business, Jennings said.
“Many old records were lost because of that,” councilwoman Sandy Sturgis said.
In the Townsend comprehensive plan, it says that the town will get their own town hall, he said.
“It opens us up to receiving federal aide and grant money,” High said. “We can’t get that now because we don’t own the building.”
The blue prints presented by RG Architects and Wilkes to council and the 20 members of the public who attended the hearing showed preliminary plans of the building, which include a 700-square-foot meeting hall in the rear of the building.
Robert Grove, a representative of RG Architects said that the meeting room in the new building is slightly smaller than the room where council currently meets in the Townsend Fire Hall, but the design of it will allow for expansion if needed as the town grows.
While planning their budget, the town placed aside 10 percent of their money for this project, allocating $350,000 of their $3 million budget.
The actual construction is anticipated to cost about $255,000, giving the town a $40,000 buffer, High said.
“We do have the cash,” he assured residents Wednesday.
Residents were able to give feedback on the design and Wilkes said that the plans could be tweaked to make a certain area either larger or smaller.
Grove said if expansion were to occur, one of the two bathrooms would be relocated so that the area could become a corridor.
At a public hearing Wednesday night, Townsend town engineer Tom Wilkes said that construction on the new town hall could be finished as early as this year.
Once mayor and council give the green light, it will take between six and nine months for construction on the 22,000-square-foot building slated to be built in the town’s municipal park in Townsend Village I to be built.
“We want to give the people a town hall,” councilwoman Karen Jennings said.
Currently, the town occupies a building that is leased to them for no money through a verbal agreement with a local family.
There is no written lease or contract for the building the town’s employees work from on South Street.
“We don’t have a town hall,” Mayor Steve High said. “We occupy a building.”
Before moving totes and desks into the South Street building, council members would carry boxes filled with documents around to different members’ homes, churches and the Fire Hall to conduct their business, Jennings said.
“Many old records were lost because of that,” councilwoman Sandy Sturgis said.
In the Townsend comprehensive plan, it says that the town will get their own town hall, he said.
“It opens us up to receiving federal aide and grant money,” High said. “We can’t get that now because we don’t own the building.”
The blue prints presented by RG Architects and Wilkes to council and the 20 members of the public who attended the hearing showed preliminary plans of the building, which include a 700-square-foot meeting hall in the rear of the building.
Robert Grove, a representative of RG Architects said that the meeting room in the new building is slightly smaller than the room where council currently meets in the Townsend Fire Hall, but the design of it will allow for expansion if needed as the town grows.
While planning their budget, the town placed aside 10 percent of their money for this project, allocating $350,000 of their $3 million budget.
The actual construction is anticipated to cost about $255,000, giving the town a $40,000 buffer, High said.
“We do have the cash,” he assured residents Wednesday.
Residents were able to give feedback on the design and Wilkes said that the plans could be tweaked to make a certain area either larger or smaller.
Grove said if expansion were to occur, one of the two bathrooms would be relocated so that the area could become a corridor.
The town started the process of getting their own hall about 18 months ago while John Hamlin was mayor.
“I hope council moves forward and residents put in positive feedback,” Hamlin said. “Hopefully we’ll be ahead of the curve when the town grows.”
The first design presented to council was a bigger building – twice the size, but it went far over budget.
The current design has a cost estimate of $190 per square-foot.
High said that the town attempted to purchase the building they currently occupy from the family but they were denied the request.
The earliest council will vote on the final decision for the project at their regular March meeting.
Currently, the town is in its discussion phase with the project.
“It takes a lot of time,” High said. “We have to make sure we do it the right way.”
He said that they would vacate the building on South Street once their hall is completed.
The park already has water and sewer and the town will be installing electric.
The building was designed traditional and simple and is based off of other small town, town halls in Delaware, Grove said. When the park was put together, it was designed to house a building.
