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 Bayfield approves Town Hall design
6/29/2007 By: Carole McWilliams
Bayfield has a new town hall design.
The town board unanimously approved the design Tuesday evening, ending several months of very mixed responses to previous designs from the Denver architectural firm Humphries Poli.
The board also voted unanimously to move ahead on the project – meaning clearing the site next to Eagle Park – even if it means a temporary shut-down of the town’s bulk water salesman.
The board is scheduled to decide on July 3 whether to re-zone a one-acre lot on Mountain View at Spruce Drive, so the town can buy it and put the water salesman there.
The town’s project manager, Marty Zwisler, said the current water salesman will shut down on July 15. He said it would cost the town $20,000 to $30,000 a month to delay construction for lack of a new water salesman site, versus loss of $3,000 to $4,000 a month in water salesman revenue if it is shut down for a while.
Zwisler said the plan is to be ready to break ground for the new building around Oct. 1, so the site and foundation work can be done before winter. The goal is to have the new town hall finished in late summer next year.
Trustees gave a good reception to architect Katie Anderson, who said she started with Humphries Poli six weeks ago and was handed Bayfield’s town hall as her first project.
“You know how we struggled with the design,” Zwisler said. “The day Katie came on board, it started to take shape. This is her design.”
“This is a killer design,” trustee Niel Hieb commented. He had compared the first versions earlier this year to a “crystal cathedral.”
The early designs were criticized as not being compatible with old town Bayfield.
Mayor Pro Tem Rick Smith said of Anderson’s design, “This says this is Bayfield. I belong here.”
Town Manager Justin Clifton said, “I don’t see anything that needs to be changed. … I think the floor plan is great. Everyone (town hall staff) has gotten what they wanted for the most part. I think it looks fabulous.”
Zwisler said the total project cost for the new design, as worked out by the contractor FCI, is $3.65 million, compared to the town’s goal of $3.5 million.
The $3.65 million includes all new furnishings, he said. “We believe we could reduce our furniture budget by $100,000 and build the building the way it ought to be built.”
The board approved the design and $3.65 million cost estimate, with the only change to include some amount of heated sidewalks at the main entrances.
The next stage is the construction drawings, Zwisler said.
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