Date: Fri 30-May-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: STEVEB

Quick Words:

architects-office-space

Full Text:

Prospective Architects Size Up Town's Office Space Problems

B Y S TEVE B IGHAM

Several architects were taken on a tour of the town's municipal buildings last

week by First Selectman Bob Cascella and Public Works Director Fred Hurley.

One of them will eventually study the town's space problems, which made the

news this past winter when a deteriorating Town Hall South had to be

evacuated. Town employees who worked there remain temporarily stationed at

Canaan House on the campus of Fairfield Hills. At Edmond Town Hall, employees

are working in cramped conditions. A solution has to be found and First

Selectman Bob Cascella has requested the help of an expert.

Last winter, a space needs advisory panel recommended to the Board of

Selectmen that some offices be moved to Fairfield Hills' Watertown Hall, which

the town recently accepted from the state along with a garage and 22.6 acres.

Some residents, including local attorney Robert Hall, have urged town

officials to keep all town offices on Main Street, but in a recent poll sent

out by the first selectman's office, a majority of the residents said they

supported the permanent relocation of town office buildings to Fairfield

Hills.

Watertown Hall seems to many to be the logical choice to move town employees,

but Mr Cascella wants a study done before any decisions are made. Other

possibilities still being looked at are adding on to Edmond Town Hall and/or

renovating Town Hall South. Selectman Gary Fetzer has requested that the

architects take cost effectiveness into consideration of all recommendations.

The consultant would be assigned to review the space needs report prepared by

the Municipal Space Needs Advisory Committee, verifying current conditions and

renovation requirements (including parking), appropriate spatial and working

relationships among agencies and departments, and project future space

requirements.

If no options within the existing buildings meet the town's current and future

space needs, the Board of Selectmen wants the architect to:

Consider and recommend which town agencies might best be relocated off site;

Conduct a site/building selection search with particular attention to the

center of town;

Recommend proper space allocations within any off-site options for

administrative offices required by the town;

Recommend renovation requirements and cost estimate.