Sanbornton considering $5M bond for new town office

SANBORNTON — A proposed $4.99 million bond to build a new town office building that would be connected to the old Town Hall will be the subject of a public hearing tonight.

The project would include renovations to the old Town Hall and site work, while converting the current Town Office building to a police station and the current life-safety building to a fire station.

The proposed 20-year, level-principal bond will be before  voters as Article 1 at Town Meeting on March 13.

The project is the culmination of an effort to address the town’s space and safety needs. It's the product of work approved by the voters at last year’s Town Meeting that was conducted by Bonnette, Page & Stone Corporation. The idea was to address all of the town’s space and safety deficiencies for years to come.

Space and safety deficiencies with the town’s current buildings and their use have been documented at least as far back as 1997, when a building-space needs committee issued a report identifying the issues and providing recommendations for the facilities. Since that time, numerous reports and studies have confirmed the need for more space and identified additional deficiencies, especially with regard to the police department and Town Offices.

The consistent recommendation through the years has been referred to as the “Domino Effect” — where the construction of a new town office building would allow the police department to relocate to the current Town Offices and the fire department to acquire adequate space within the life-safety building.

The town voted in 2006 to purchase property to protect the horizon behind the three historic buildings on Meeting House Hill Road and to prepare a site for a future town office building. That property serves as the location for the new town office building and parking area presented in the town building concept and design report.

That report provides drawings and a construction cost estimate to establish a climate-controlled basement under the old Town Hall to stabilize it structurally and address storage needs of the town; build a new town office connected to the old Town Hall; build a parking lot behind the new town office building and old Town Hall; convert the current Town Offices to a police department, with an addition containing a sallyport to provide safer entry and exit; and convert the life-safety building to accommodate all fire department needs and address some site issues at that location.

The town building concept and design proposal affects town facilities not depicted in the drawings, as well: It provides dedicated office and storage space in the new town office building for the recreation department, which has been located in the highway garage, with storage in multiple facilities, such as the transfer station, since 2014, when the department’s former facilities at the town park were condemned. That, in turn, would free up space at the other town facilities.

The plan also addresses the welfare office, which also used to be housed in the condemned facilities at the park and is currently located in the kitchen of the Town Offices. There will be adequate facilities at the new building that meet the confidentiality needs of the department, as required by law.

The connector proposed in the design between the new town office building and the old Town Hall would contain kitchen and restroom facilities that could be accessed after hours for community events and approved private functions.

While the timing of the proposed comprehensive plan falls on the heels of a townwide revaluation, it also comes at a time when significant long-term debt has been eliminated, and more debt will be retired in the near future. The final $142,761 payment for the Y Project was paid in 2015; the final payment on the transition bond of $112,190 was made in 2018; and the last payment for the highway garage will be paid in 2021, at $135,039.

The retirement of that debts lessens the impact on the tax rate if the proposed bond is approved.

The Sanbornton Board of Selectmen plans to provide additional information about the history of the space and safety needs, along with the proposed concept and design and the impact it would have in the Sanbornton during Wednesday's public hearing.

The public hearing will be held tonight at 5:30 p.m., at the Town Office at 573 Sanborn Road. In case of inclement weather, a snow date has been set for the following Wednesday, Feb. 20, at the same location and time.

For further information, including the proposed designs and budget, stop in at the Town Offices or go online to www.sanborntonnh.org.