The Permanent Building Committee has approved the contract to design the transformation of the former medical office building at 16 Lancaster County Road into a senior center. Town Meeting voted to buy and renovate the building three months ago, but holidays and the procurement process held up finalizing DAI Architects’ contract until the committee’s Jan. 26 meeting. The Council on Aging hopes to move into the new building in the fall.
The only sticking point was a request from PBC member Guy Hermann to include a structural analysis of the roof to determine if it would hold the weight of solar panels in case the town wanted to add them in the future. DAI did not include that task in the contract but said it could be done for an additional $6,500.
PBC member Steve Moeser said, “I don’t think we should spend 10 cents on structurally analyzing the roof at this time. If we go forward with it, the solar company will do it as part of their contract.” Other members, including Hermann, agreed and voted unanimously to approve the contract. Assistant Town Administrator Marie Sobalvarro told the Press the town sent the signed contract to DAI Jan. 27, and she is expecting DAI’s countersigned copy to arrive this week. The firm’s estimated time to complete the design documents necessary to put the job out to bid is two months.
Color selected for slate roof on old library
At that same meeting, committee members discussed the color of a slate sample provided by old library roof architect Gale Associates. Residents voted to fund the project to replace the old library slate roof and gutters and repair water-damaged masonry at 2021 Annual Town Meeting, but a slate supply chain disruption pushed the project start date out to this spring.
The slate sample color is Vermont black, which contains black and grey tones. Gale representative Chelsea Griffin Knott told the committee there will be slight variations in the color of each tile since slate is a natural material, and the colors may change slightly over time as the slate weathers and ages. Building Inspector Jeff Hayes said he thought the color would work well with the building since it is very close to that of the existing slate. Exact color matching was not considered critical since all the old slate will be replaced, and there was no need to involve the Historical Commission because the color was not changing from the existing color, according to Sobalvarro. Later in the week Chair Cindy Russo confirmed that the architect had ordered the slate. The project is scheduled to begin in April.
