Like robins in spring, trailers, construction fencing, and porta-potties are signaling the arrival of G.V.W. Construction Inc. to begin the long-awaited renovation of Harvard’s Town Hall. This week, one-way streets around the construction site will go into effect as crews finish site preparation. Demolition of the fire escape and interior areas of Town Hall are scheduled to begin next week.
One-way street signs will be going up at the northern end of Elm Street and in the Town Hall parking lot, and the portion of the Hildreth House driveway right behind Town Hall will be closed. For the duration of the renovation, access to Hildreth House and the fire station will be from Elm Street, and traffic leaving those locations will exit onto Ayer Road from the parking lot in front of Town Hall. Emergency vehicles will be allowed to use the Town Hall parking lot to access the fire station, but only with flashing lights. Parking spaces in back of the Unitarian Church will not be available, and the town is planning to provide a handicapped parking spot for the church on Elm Street.
Meeting schedules set
During the yearlong renovation, weekly construction meetings will be held every Wednesday morning with G.V.W. representatives, project manager Steve Kirby of Vertex, and one or two members of the Town Hall Construction Committee (THCC) in attendance. The THCC members who attend these meetings have been dubbed the “red team,” which is composed of the three members with construction experience: Bill Barton, Al Combs, and Pablo Carbonell. The THCC will meet weekly on Thursday mornings to get updates from red team members and will report monthly to the Board of Selectmen. The Wednesday morning construction meetings are not open meetings, but the 7:30 a.m. Thursday THCC meetings at the fire station meeting room are open to the public.
The THCC report at this week’s selectmen’s meeting caused a stir when the committee mentioned going over budget on one line item because of a rebid on mixed metals. But the confusion cleared when committee members explained that they were still calling the last A.M. Fogarty estimate “the budget,” and that the rebid actually lowers the price of the project by $2,000. At the THCC meeting the following morning, members agreed that they needed to start reporting on the “hard budget” numbers, not the estimate.
