Plans for Foxborough Town Hall Unveiled

Joe Milani, project architect at Kaestle Boos Associates, walked selectmen and the public through two conceptual plans for a proposed new town hall building Tuesday night, April 12. 

Before diving into the cost estimates, Milani and Foxborough town manager Kevin Paicos, spoke on the history of the town hall building.

Foxborough's town hall is 48 years old and was constructed in 1963. In 1999, the Space Needs Committee recommended the building under-go a renovation. However, timing and cost estimates never quite seemed to match up.

In September 2010, the board of selectmen authorized the hiring of architects, engineers and cost estimators to study the feasibility options of renovating or rebuilding town hall. 

Milani along with Foxborough's building committee came to the conclusion that after calculating out both option costs that there is only a $100,000 difference between the addition/renovation option and the new building option.

The addition/renovation option would cost an estimated $7,881,000 and the new building option would cost an estimated $7,974,000.

Milani then presented the pros and cons of each option.

Addition/renovation pros:

• Retaining South St. Facade
• Addresses Program needs
• Improved Functional use

Addition/renovation cons:

• Requires temporary offices
• Loss of parking
• Requires variance
• Inefficient layout 

New building pros:

• Energy efficient envelope
• Smaller footprint
• Lower operating risks 
• More parking possible

New building cons:

• Requires temporary offices
• Requires variance

The building committee unanimously recommended for the board to support the "new building" option.

Town accountant, Randy Scollins, reviewed the sources of funding for the new town hall building with the board.

Sources of funding include:

• Capital Stabilization Fund - $547,000
• High School Savings Project - $1,700,000
• Sale of Town Assets - $2,055,000
• Permanent Financing - $3,672,000

Selectmen Paul Mortenson was the first to respond to the presentation asking, "Is there an option C where the major safety issues are addressed and done in a cost effective manner?" 

Building architects from Kaestle Boos Associates (KBA) responded by saying, "we did not look at an option C."

KBA went onto say that "by the time the necessary renovations are completed, a complete tear down would have been the better option."

Selectmen James DeVellis expressed his concern over the financing process for the new building.

"We are borrowing a lot of money, taking money from the high school and bringing it over here," said DeVellis. "There are lots of things that have to come together and I am surprised that we are going to make a decision in May."

Selectmen Lorraine Brue took a different spin on the financing matter saying, "we are proposing to do this without debt exclusion and no increases in taxes to the residents."

"I can't think of a more beautiful way to do this for community," said Brue. 

Devillus responded to Brue's statements with a cautionary comment.

"I heard a few weeks ago that if we don't pass a tax that we are going to be laying off people along with barley making the budget," said Devillus. "But now, all of sudden we have all the money."

Paicos quickly stepped into the debate with his closing statements.

"The reason the money is there is not because it suddenly appeared but because this has been planned for 2 years," said Paicos. "The money that has been carved out for this....if it is not used for this will be available for something else."

"We do not have another higher priority than this," added Pacios.

Paicos said that after putting every other issue aside in the matter, the main reason to do a town hall renovation now is because the problem is only going to get worse.

"The potential for something bad to happen in the building is real," said Paicos. "The building is full of lead and the basement is full of mold and asbestos.

Paicos recommend for the board to not delay the process under any circumstances, saying "you have an imminent health issue and we either make the appropriation to fix it or we move people out of here." 

Voters will have a say on the town hall proposal at the annual town meeting, which selectmen