Bathhouse without water not much good

Bids to construct the new restroom and shower facility planned for the Waukewan Beach area came in considerably above the $60,000 amount budgeted for the project, the Board of Selectman was told last week. Town Manager Carol Granfield said the town received eight bids, ranging from $80,000 to $177,000 but added that the bid specifications had been layered so that parts of project could be eliminated if necessary to get it back on budget.

"It was thought the bids would come in higher (than the budget)," Granfield said before adding that the actual numbers that came in were still being evaluated to determine if it were going to be possible to proceed.

Chairman Peter Miller cautioned that lowering the risk of human-borne contaminants in Lake Waukewan — the source of the town's public water supply — was the primary motivation behind the new building in the first place and asked that that fact be kept in mind when cuts in the scope of the project were being considered.

The present facilities — located across Waukewan Street from the beach on a little .21-acre triangle of town-owned land — do not include running water or sewer. There are two little change houses, a 1920s vintage lifeguard "shack" and, seasonally, a porta-potty.

Voters at the 2006 town meeting approved the appropriation of $60,000 to raze the current structures and build a new 780-square-foot building with the understanding that $20,000 of the total would come from a grant from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund. Designed by Laconia architect Sonya Misiaszek, the new building includes space for two restrooms large enough to double as changing areas, a storage area serviced by a garage door, a lifeguard work area that includes a small service window and an outside cold-shower area.

Bruce Bond, chairman of the Waukewan Watershed Advisory Committee, told the Selectboard last fall that the most important feature was the addition of running water for washing. And the availability of that water, as it turns out, is the primary factor in the cost escalation.

Parks and Recreation Director Vint Choiniere said later in the week that the original plan called for the new building to be hooked up town water and sewer and the cost of those connections was not figured into the budget. There is a sewer line readily available in the Waukewan Street right-of-way and water was to be extended down from the town's treatment plan, located several hundred yards to the north.

The service connections were going to be provided by the water department, Choiniere said. "It was just something they were going to do."

That water plan turned out not be feasible, he continued, and now the town is going to have to have a well drilled instead.

Water and Sewer Superintendent Bob Hill confirmed that diagnosis, saying it was discovered that running a water line down the railroad right-of-way that connects the two sites was going to involve crossing several wetlands' areas, adding considerably to both the expense of the project and time needed to complete it.

"It will be cheaper just to drill a well," he said.

The problem, of course, is that the original bathhouse budget did not include any money for a water source.

Nonetheless, Choiniere said he remains confident the project will be completed by the target date in late June. He said the basic building was not over-designed for the budget on hand but an item like the expansion and paving of the small on-site parking lot might have to fall by the wayside.

Choiniere said the original budget was developed by him from a conversation he had with a local building contractor about the probable cost of a new structure of the approximate size of the one now on the drawing board.

The new facility was originally expected to be completed last fall, but plans were temporarily derailed when Bob and Cathy Merwin — who live just to the north at 65 Waukewan Street — protested that it was being sited too close to their property line. Officials explained they were trying to situate the building on the tiny lot in such a way as to be the least offensive to normal zoning setback requirements but it was eventually agreed to move the building a little further away from the Merwin's yard.

The outdoor shower component of the facility is located on the south side, away from the Merwin's home.