When it meets on Tuesday, May 23, the Town Council will hear results of an assessment of the Town Hall made by the architectural firm it hired to help decide the future of the 97-year-old building.
Port City Architects of Portland made its presentation to the town’s Building Committee in March, comparing the costs of building a new town hall or renovating the old town hall, which has more space than is needed for town offices. Public comment will be taken following Port City’s presentation to the council on Tuesday.
“The council will then digest the information and decide what direction should be explored further,” said Assistant Town Manager Jennifer Janelle. “There will be a public hearing, whichever direction the council chooses.”
Building Committee members on March 30 suggested a new building should be built instead of renovating the existing 20,070-square-foot building, constructed in 1926 as St. Michael’s School and later serving as Central School Annex. It was renovated in 1976 to serve as South Berwick’s town hall. Additional renovations were made to the town clerk’s office and the third-floor auditorium in the 1990s. According to Port City’s needs assessment, town offices require 11,500 square feet, or slightly more than half the space in the current building.
Port City estimated it would cost more than $8 million to renovate the building and $5 million to build a new one, that figure less if sale of the old town hall were figured in. If a new building were constructed, the town hall could be sold for an estimated $1.5 million, according to minutes of the Building Committee meeting.
Town officials and the Building Committee said that if the town hall is sold, they could put restrictions on the sale to preserve the exterior appearance of the building. Committee members are Brad Christo, Mark Gagnon, Tom Harmon, David Stansfield and Fred Wildnauer.
The area near the Fire Station and Community Center is one of the places being considered for a new town hall. This area previously was considered for the Police Station, but the neighborhood lobbied against it, noting that the area is used as a public playground.
The kickoff meeting with Port City Architects was held on March 2, a second meeting on March 23, and on March 30 the Building Committee received the report. Lila Semrau of Port City told the committee she was “pleasantly surprised that we got to this point of the project so quickly,” according to minutes of the meeting.
