The good news is that the latest cost estimate for the replacement of three Department of Public Works buildings and the renovation of one building has not gone up much since the previous estimate prepared in December. The bad news is that it has not gone down much either. The most recent estimate, by engineering firm Weston & Sampson, stands at $10,029,000, including all soft costs, such as contingencies. The town will vote on whether to borrow money to complete the project at Town Meeting April 6 and at the ballot box April 9.
This latest estimate is based on the schematic design developed by the firm. The previous estimate, prepared in November, was based on square footage and the average cost of similar projects over the past few years plus an escalation factor. That estimate was in the range of $9.5 million to $10.9 million.
Members of the Permanent Building Committee met Feb. 14 to discuss the new estimate, which includes four “deduct alternates,” or items that can be removed from the project if bids were to come in over budget. Deduct alternates must be removed in the order they are specified in the bid documents.
The first item in the list is the replacement of the pole barn. That would bring the cost down by about $1.8 million. But the recent discovery of over 10 feet of buried trash in two locations near the existing pole barn might throw a monkey wrench into putting it on the deduct alternate list, particularly as the first item.
The Department of Environmental Protection will likely weigh in on what to do with the newly found trash locations, including whether the pole barn can stay where it is. Should the barn be rebuilt, it would be moved to the area that is currently used as the DPW parking lot. Since that area is known to have ledge, about $100,000 was added to the estimate to account for its removal. The parking lot would move to where the pole barn currently sits.
There was some speculation that there may be trash underneath the pole barn itself, because it was thought that it was built after the old landfill was closed. But Permanent Building Committee Chair Pablo Carbonell said new information obtained by Assistant Town Administrator Marie Sobalvarro shows that the pole barn was built in 1930. The engineering firm in charge of closing the old landfill, Tighe & Bond, will be boring new holes in the area around the DPW in March to determine the extent of the underground trash there.
The remaining items on the deduct alternate list are renovations to the six-bay garage, including updating the heating system and installing new lighting and a new floor. Those items would save about $400,000.
Sobalvarro told the committee there is also unspent money from a previous building project that could be applied to the DPW project, should the town vote to go ahead with the project. Finance Director Jared Mullane confirmed that there is $235,000 in excess bond proceeds from the debt for the old library roof project, and the DPW project is an eligible recipient of those funds.
