Chester says public safety building will cost millions
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Staff Report - Published: January 1, 2007
CHESTER — The town's proposed new public safety building is expected to cost about $4.6 million, according to a statement from Fire Chief Jeff Holden, chairman of the Chester Public Safety Building Committee.
An informational meeting to explain the project will be held at the Chester Town Hall on Jan. 30 at 7 p.m.
"We will present the building design, explain the guaranteed total project cost, and take a look at the process to date and the construction process ahead," Holden wrote in a letter to the Rutland Herald.
The building is slated to be constructed near the junction of Routes 11 and 103 and will be the new home for the police, fire and ambulance departments. Holden said that the initial needs assessment study came up with a 27,500-square-foot building that would have cost somewhere between $7.2 million and $8 million. Deciding they could do better, they narrowed the second round of requests for proposal to Vermont firms and Bread Loaf Construction of Middlebury won the contract.
The new building design is smaller, about 20,000 square feet. Holden said this was achieved by cutting out unnecessary features. A solar power system has been added to supplement the building's heating, hot water and backup electrical needs.
"For now," Holden wrote, "we plan to bond for the full amount and then subtract the acquired grants and donations as they become available. We feel that the cost of the project will be less, even if we receive only a portion of the grants and assistance that we anticipate."
Holden added that delays could be costly.
"I truly believe that this total cost is the best we can do and still meet our goals, considering today's rapidly escalating cost of construction," he wrote. "Every year that we delay this project we can expect to add 5 percent to 10 percent to the construction cost. That would be about $230,000 to $460,000 for each year we delay."
Making the building any smaller than the new design, he added, might mean having to float a new bond 10 to 20 years down the road in order to expand or modify the building.
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