The committee that will oversee the renovation and expansion of Town Hall took its first hard look this week at a draft schedule for completing construction of the $4 million project.
Or, perhaps, schedules.
On Tuesday, John Sayre-Scibona of Design Technique, Inc., the town’s project manager, presented the Town Hall Building Committee with two: one that foresees construction starting in September 2013 and ending in late fall 2014; and a second that starts in March 2014 and ends a year later in 2015.
These competing forecasts are a consequence of the zoning violation that came to light late this spring when it was discovered that plans for the historic building and its proposed addition would place the structure closer to Ayer Road than the 75-foot setback required by Harvard’s bylaws. As a result of the finding, which was confirmed by town counsel Mark Lanza, before construction can begin the town must apply to the Zoning Board of Appeals for a variance and be granted a special permit, a process that could take from two to nine months.
The task of obtaining the variance was delegated to the building committee by the Selectmen this September, when they voted unanimously, according to their minutes, to direct the committee’s five members to “seek a variance as required to fit schematic design and seek appropriate expertise.”
The two schedules presented Tuesday both depend on a favorable decision by the Zoning Board of Appeals. Under the so-called “best-case” scenario, described by Sayre-Scibona, the board acts quickly and approves a special permit within the minimum 60 days allowed by state law. The “worst-case” scenario also presumes a favorable decision, but envisions that the Zoning Board takes the full 191 days that state law makes available to reach a decision and issue a permit. Both scenarios include 20 days for an appeal.
What can’t be forecast, however, is what happens if the Zoning Board turns down the town’s request, or a citizen “with standing” appeals its decision. What happens if “we go through the ZBA process and they say, ‘No’?” asked Town Administrator Tim Bragan.
“It depends on what they say no to,” speculated committee member Doug Coots. “If they say no to the height, then we make it shorter. If they say no to the fact that we have an addition of a certain size that is a certain percentage bigger than the current addition, thereby worsening the grandfathered condition [i.e., the setback from Ayer Road], then we’re going to have to go back and redesign. That’s a risk we’re taking.”
The two schedules also include time for work on a detailed design. The problem for the committee is that in order to prepare its case for the Zoning Board, it must know the precise physical dimensions of the renovated building, as well as those of the existing building, information that cannot be determined from the less detailed schematic design approved by Town Meeting this spring. But in their September meeting in which they directed the building committee to seek a variance, some Selectmen also voiced a reluctance to spend additional money on design.
“The issue was…that no further finalization of the design take place unless we know we can do what we want to do, where we want to do it,” recalled Bragan, who had been present for the discussion.
But Coots said that was unrealistic.
“With all due respect to the Selectmen,” he said, “the assumption that they can move forward without moving forward is a catch-22. It’s a catch-22 to say that you can stay where you are and achieve a variance. You cannot…You cannot present the results of a schematic design to a zoning board anywhere and expect to receive approval without having done more work. If the Board of Selectmen wants us to do the job, they need to give us the ability to do it.”
The draft schedule offered by Sayre-Scibona on Tuesday allows roughly 90 days for work on a detailed design for Town Hall, and sets January 2013 as the time the committee will formally apply to the Zoning Board. But committee Chair Pete Jackson said he expected the committee would have the information it needed much sooner than that.
“We will apply for the variance as soon as possible,” he said, “meaning as soon as we’re ready.”
“I have no doubt it will pass,” he added.
