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Dear Old Lyme Residents:
The Town Hall was constructed in the early 1920s and has remained basically untouched, while our population has quadrupled (7,500 year round, 16,000 in the summer months). The building does not meet ADA standards. Meeting rooms are too few and too small. Offices are cramped and storage space is inadequate. As one resident stated the November 13 Town Meeting, “We outgrew the Town Hall years ago. It needs to be fixed now.”
The Town Hall Expansion Committee, under the leadership of John Forbis, is moving the proposed renovation and expansion project ahead on an ambitious timeline.~~ We received a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Historic District Commission in October and will present plans for approval to Land Use agencies in December and January. The proposed Town Hall expansion will make all offices and meeting spaces handicapped accessible. The plan will reconfigure office space within the existing building, provide new office space, and add a street-level meeting hall to replace the existing 2nd floor auditorium. You can see the plans at the Town Hall and online (www.oldlyme-ct.gov).
In August, residents approved $475,000 for the purchase of the property adjacent to the Town Hall and to fund preliminary architectural and engineering fees. The closing on 50 Lyme St. took place on October 25, but nothing will happen to the property unless and until voters approve the funding for the entire project at a Town referendum, tentatively scheduled for February 2007.~ If approved, construction could begin in April of 2007. Every month of delay represents an increase of $17,500 (based on our cost estimators’ inflation assumptions) to the overall cost.~
Our cost estimators (Faithful & Gould) have provided the first of three estimates for the project, which indicate a mid-range construction and contingency cost of $3,000,000. This will be refined by two additional cost estimates due in December and in February.
In October, Regional School District 18 informed us that it decided against locating its Central Offices in the renovated Town Hall. Correspondence related to the decision is available on the Town website (www.oldlyme-ct.gov) and in the Town Hall.~ We were pleased to provide the District with an option that represented significant savings to taxpayers and we remain open to partnering with the District.
The Expansion Committee is working to secure grants that will reduce the capital cost of the project and is looking at ways to reduce ongoing operating expenses. The Town has already submitted a $200,000 state Culture and Tourism Grant and will apply for a $600,000 Small Cities Grant and $200,000 in LoCIP funding.~ We continue to investigate other grant sources and we are exploring alternative energy recommendations and related grants.
Because much of the architectural and engineering work must be done before the Town referendum in February, the Boards of Selectmen and Finance have recommended to a Special Town Meeting the approval of an additional $225,000 to fund the A &E costs.~ This request is in line with the overall budget.~The A&E work will provide us with sufficient detail so that we may have an accurate cost estimate of the project for the referendum.~ The vote is scheduled for Tuesday, November 21, 7:30pm at the Lyme Old Lyme Middle School Auditorium. We hope to see you there. Please do not hesitate to contact us with your questions and comments.
Tim Griswold Skip Sibley Bonnie Reemsnyder
First Selectman Selectman Selectwoman
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