Is a permanent stage in Town Hall to be or not to be? That was the question that the selectmen asked the town to help answer at their Tuesday, Jan. 13, meeting.
Responses came in the form of emails to the selectmen, comments from residents at the meeting, and a recommendation by the Town Hall Construction Committee (THCC). The consensus was that the planned platform stage would have limited functionality, would lessen the flexibility of the large space on the second floor, and—because of the requirement of a stage lift—would be expensive. After listening to the input, the selectmen voted unanimously to ask the THCC to instruct the architect to remove the stage and its lift from the plan.
Prior to this meeting, the Town Hall design plan called for most of the existing stage on the second floor to be demolished to make way for restrooms and a meeting room; but the proscenium, which is the decorative frame around the stage opening, and the apron, which is the raised area that extends out in front of the stage, were to remain. The apron was to be expanded to become a 10-foot-wide platform, with a lift from the floor to the platform, a requirement for handicapped accessibility. The pricetag for the apron expansion and lift was about $48,000.
THCC makes its recommendation
When public input began at the BOS meeting, Chairman Stu Sklar read a memo from the THCC regarding the stage. The memo said, “It may be prudent to forgo the platform/stage stucture but maintain a use flexibility through temporary structures until such time as a clearer definition of space use occurs.” It also mentioned the possibility of using temporary leased platforms for performances, and manually movable interlocking sound walls to create multiple meeting spaces in the large second-floor room, which could be stored on the perimeter of the room when not in use.
Residents concur on platform removal
Only two residents attended the meeting to provide input on the stage, and they both echoed the recommendations of the THCC. Tim Clark of Bolton Road said that with the removal of the real stage, the planned raised platform could not be considered a proper performance area, and that its functionality would be limited to speakers and small ensembles. Like the THCC, Clark brought up the possibility of leasing temporary platforms as needed. He also mentioned that if the platform is eliminated, the second floor could be used for additional office space or storage, and with the money that was to be spent on the platform, it might be possible to upgrade the planned lift to Town Hall’s second floor to an elevator. Paul Richards of Westcott Road reminded the selectmen of School Committee Chairwoman SusanMary Redinger’s comments at Special Town Meeting last October, where Redinger said that the meeting rooms in the Town Hall design wouldn’t satisfy the needs of town boards and committees, with one room being too small and the other too large. Richards urged the selectmen to look into using movable walls to create meeting spaces in the large room.
Proscenium stays, noise considered
Following public input, Town Administrator Tim Bragan explained that if the platform were taken out, the existing proscenium would stay, and that the wainscoting currently on the second-floor walls would be continued along the bottom of the proscenium. He said that a lift would not be required for a temporary platform unless it was higher than 30 inches.
Selectwoman Lucy Wallace brought up a problem with multiple meetings going on simultaneously in partitioned areas: noise. The current design calls for acoustic spray to be used on the second-floor ceiling to abate noise, but at the THCC meeting on Jan. 12, LLB Architect Drayton Fair expressed concern about the effectiveness of that spray and had some alternative suggestions. That topic will be brought up at the next BOS meeting on Jan. 20, where the THCC will attempt to finalize what will be in the bid. A request for bids is tentatively scheduled to go out on Feb. 11.
