A recent document by opponents of Canton’s proposal to bond up to $5.4 million for a public works garage at 325 Commerce Drive contends that analysis of area facilities shows the town project is over priced.
Others, however, say the document is misleading and leaves out details, such as the fact that Harwinton uses two buildings.
The two-sided document from Citizens for a Better Canton echoes many of the points made by several opponents at a recent town meeting. The flier (see attached copy) offers comparisons of Canton's proposal with projects in Barkhamsted, Burlington and Harwinton, facilities built in 2011, 2000 and 2001.
Two of the towns, Harwinton and Burlington, have a similar amount of locally maintained roads and built facilities with simpler, smaller and safer designs for millions less, according to the flier. For example it states Burlington "has more roads, more vehicles and more storage than Canton but our garage is 250% more expensive." It also states that some of the towns have more plow trucks.
The opponents acknowledge differences, such as Canton’s need to start fresh on a new site. Still they argue the process is flawed and that a smaller building could save money in construction costs and potentially go on a smaller, flatter site, also saving some of the estimated $1 million is site work.
“They’re trying to build a Taj Mahal, Disney style building,” said Glenn Arnold, who has been one of the most vocal opponents of the Canton proposal.
The opponents say those towns have built more economically and space-efficient buildings and gives "all inclusive" square footage costs of $164, $152 and $206, compared to Canton's number of $270, according to the flier.
“Talk to local towns about their new highway garage and apply their lessons learned,” it states.
"It opens up a whole range of other choices that are cheaper," added Kevin Jackson.
Chris Budnick, chair of Citizens for a Better Canton, which produced the document, acknowledged Canton has some challenges in any new site but said the sheet indicates that Canton's proposal is still a “project priced in Manhattan dollars” and said the town should go back to the drawing board.
“The facts sheet which was distributed at the town hall meeting last week represents the center of mass of where Canton should be aiming at in terms of space, capability and cost,” he said.
David Madigan, a member of Canton’s Municipal Building Committee, the town board that has worked closely with Weston and Sampson Engineer Jeff Alberti for the past several years in searching for a new garage location and assessing needs for a new facility, called the information “grossly misleading.”
The flier does not mention that the other towns built on existing sites, some compromises in other facilities, current code that require more expensive building details, or the fact that all three towns have a smaller population and in some cases much smaller departments, Madigan said.
According to Madigan, the sheet additionally leaves out two glaring details — the fact that Harwinton Department of Public Works operates out of both the new and an older building and that Burlington has “clearly outgrown its facility.”
“The data that would lead you to a conclusion on those two facilities is completely misleading,” Madigan said.
This week, Patch visited both the facilities in Burlington and Harwinton. (Barkhamsted did not return a message seeking a tour).
Harwinton Highway Supervisor John D. Fredsall said he feels for the taxpayer in the age of tight budgets was in no position to comment on Canton’s proposal. He offered the following on his town's operation.
The plans for Harwinton’s newer 2001 building show it at 13,650 square feet. The operation also utilizes the older garage building of 5,615 square feet, he said.
“We presently park 7 plow trucks, three smaller trucks, and three pieces of heavy equipment in the new facility, which pretty well fills up the space,” Fredsall said.
The older building holds “miscellaneous equipment,” such as a mowing tractor, a spare truck, at times a regional sweeper, snow plows, mowers, painters, a sign shop, welding area, chain-saw room, tires, paint and more, he added.
“It would be very difficult for the Public Works Department to operate out of only the new garage because of all the new work we’ve taken on over the last 10-years and the equipment needed to do this work,” Fredsall said.
The wash bay is inside the main garage, separated by a partial concrete wall and includes an overhead spraying area. He agreed with the flier’s assertion that the wash bay is adequate but said the salt and sand storage and fuel tank previously existed on the site, two items the flier says were included in the new facility’s cost.
As to the $500,000 cost to build on wetlands mentioned in the flier, Fredsall said there was a cost to pour extra concrete and bring in fill and remove unsuitable soils. He said he did not immediately have an exact cost.
In Burlington, Public Works Director Scott Tharau said the facility is a total 13,835 square feet. He said the town does have 15 plow trucks as indicated in the flier but not all are full size. While tight, all can fit in the facility during the winter, he added. Other equipment sits outside, however. The grounds include a salt shed not in the building's budget, he said. Also on site are three storage trailers.
“I clearly don’t have enough room for all my stuff,” he said.
Tharau said he is currently researching cold storage facilities and hopes to request one for the town’s 2014-2015 budget. Ideally it would be 5,000 square feet, he said.
Madigan said if those two towns don't feel a 13,000 to 14,000 square foot facility on its own is enough for their operations why should Canton?
“The fact that another town has an inadequate facility doesn’t mean we should have an inadequate facility,” he said.
Opponents say a cold storage facility is less expensive and could house some of Canton's equipment.
Budnick maintains that the town has not done all of its homework, an argument opponents have made in other aspects of the garage.
“The type of analysis provided in the sheet should have been the starting point for this project and not something which needed to be presented by a citizen group two weeks prior to a town wide vote on this matter," he said. "It should have served as a guideline for the planning process so that this project did not drift so far off the reservation price wise. It still can and should be used that way."
Arnold has also argued that the vehicle-storage portion of the concept drawn by Weston and Sampson is inefficient and dangerous, while town officials counter that a design build process could result in a much different and less expensive design. Opponents scoffed at the idea of a project coming in under budget but other say it has been done.
Madigan said the committee did research comparable facilities, such as Coventry’s, a project that was approximately $4 million. That town also had land and other advantages Canton did not have, but is similar in size and scope, he said. At the town meeting, Jeff Alberti of Weston and Sampson, said in working on more than 80 facilities throughout New England, the company has learned to meet the needs of individuals rather than try to apply what an area town does and make it fit.
Madigan also argues Canton’s higher population does make a difference as the public works department plows, maintains parks, runs the transfer station, works on roads, maintains fields for the towns and school, maintains buildings, performs custodial duties and more. He said the town should keep costs reasonable but not compromise too much and quickly outgrow the space or have an inefficient building.
“Our job isn’t to build the cheapest building,” Madigan said. “Our job is to build a building to satisfy the needs of the Department of Public Works at the lowest life-cycle cost.”
Other aspects of the garage, including site selection, location, tax impact, potential layout and more have also been hotly debated and many of those aspects have been covered in previous stories.
For details on the garage proposal, including presentations from the recent town meeting, log on to http://www.townofcantonct.org/controls/NewsFeed.aspx?FeedID=488
The town web site also contains minutes from recent meetings.
The garage is one of three questions that will be the subject of a referendum vote on May 22, 2013 between the hours of 6 am and 8pm. Electors and persons qualified to vote in town meetings who are not electors shall vote at the following polling place: Canton Town Hall, 4 Market Street, Canton. Absentee ballots will be available from the Town Clerk's office.
By the numbers
The ballot (See the town's web site for exact wording)
- Should the town bond (essentially borrow and pay back over time) $5.4 million for the garage project
- Should the town bond $6 million for road work
- Should the town's proposed $35 million budget be approved.
- Barkhamsted – 47.94
- Burlington - 87.46,
- Canton - 72.59
- Harwinton - 66.03
- Barkhamsted – 3,776
- Burlington – 9,307
- Canton — 10,300
- Harwinton — 5,608
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