Canton Officials Look to Get Review of Garage Proposal, Secure Better Estimates and Potentially Purchase Commerce Drive Parcel

As the town moves forward with plans for a new Public Works facility, officials are considering a plan to hire a new company to review the project and attempt to get more precise project estimates before bringing it back to voters. Officials are also considered moving forward to try and purchase property at 325 Commerce Drive for the facility. 

“I think the selectmen remain convinced that 325 Commerce remains the best and most viable location,” First Selectman Richard Barlow said.

In May, voters by a tally of 814 to 454 defeated a $5.4 million project for a new public works facility at 325 Commerce Drive to replace the town’s aging structure along the Farmington River. 

Since then both the Board of Selectmen and the Permanent Municipal Building Committee (PMBC) have discussed the defeat and Tuesday evening met together to discuss the town’s next steps.

Members of both boards agreed on a few main ideas:  

• The current property is a good fit for a facility 
• The town does need to hire a company to review data and hopefully obtain firmer estimates 
• The town needs to come forward with a lower-priced project but not make too many compromises that would hurt the project in the long run
• The town needs to better explain its choices

Selectmen said they would like PMBC to obtain a “design, build” firm to both review work done for the town by Weston and Sampson Engineers and prepare a “bridging document” with the town’s needs and design ideas. The hope is that the document can be used in a "Request for Proposal" process in which "design,  build" firms would come forward with estimates. (A design, build process uses one company to spec and construct a project in a more flexible and money saving process, officials said.)

Town officials said the town still has approximately $60,000 in grant funding to pay for the new firm’s work. 

Officials said it could be a challenge to get firms to give an estimate for an unapproved project but selectmen asked the building committee to move in that direction in hopes of getting a lower price to bring to voters.

Additionally, officials feel companies may be more willing to give estimates if the town owned the land.

Selectman David Gilchrist said he still advocated purchasing the property separately, an idea he brought up at a recent selectmen’s meeting.

Selectman Lowell Humphrey said he had initially opposed that idea of splitting the project but was “leaning toward agreeing” since the purchase price of $225,000 would warrant a special town meeting where voters could still have a say.

Some selectman, however, remain hesitant to move forward with Gilchrist's previous suggestion to have the Public Works Crew do some of the prep work on the site, stating that it would put them behind on other work. 

Early in the meeting members of both boards again said the town needs to better explain why it didn't move forward with numerous other properties that were considered. 

A few have been mentioned numerous times. One discussed Tuesday was 51 River Road, which is town owned.

Barlow said, for example, that the town hadn’t adequately explained the cost of losing a field and the potential impact of close neighbors for that site.  Reynolds also said the site would never work with zoning.

Resident Alan Walker spoke during the public comment portion at the beginning of the meeting. 

He spoke largely in favor of the project and the site but also expressed concerns.

He said he felt the town was so far behind in its facility that it does need to catch up but also felt officials need to better explain that and show comparisons.

“There might be a better opportunity to sell this if we can come up with an apples to apples comparison,” he said.

He said people also want to know if it’s going to improve their lives and help the town keep up with issues such as road maintenance.

While purchasing the property would take time to go through approvals, chief Administrative officer Robert Skinner also told PMBC members they should still move forward with other aspects. Ideally the town would have potential approval of a project before February of 2015, when the town would sell a second set of municipal bonds for current projects.

Bond sales are the way the town essentially borrows money to pay back with interest over time. It’s preferable to get in with that sale in order to avoid separate fees, which are about $55,000, Skinner said.