New Municipal Complex: March 27, 2023 Township Meeting
At the March 27, committee meeting, Scott England and Tom Leisse, the township’s architect and engineer, briefly presented first stage plans for the new municipal complex on the flag lot on Carranza Road. They emphasized that the township was at the earliest moments of the process and the designs were extremely preliminary.
Clerk Maryalice Brown asked committee members, who received plans in advance, to submit questions before the meeting so that the professionals could address them. The committee didn’t submit any questions.
After the presentation, Committeeman Sprague asked what the building would look like? The architect answered that it was too early to tell.
New Municipal Complex: April 17, 2023 Township Meeting
At the April 17, 2023, township meeting, the committee held a Question and Answer session to address questions from the public. The township’s architect and engineer were again on hand to answer questions, along with Construction Officer Tom Boyd.
This was the first time the committee gave citizens access to its professionals, and allowed them to ask live questions and to follow up on answers. At all other regular meetings, the committee limits public comment to two minutes and doesn’t respond. At the Public information Session on December 19, 2022, citizens had to submit questions in advance. Tom Boyd answered some of them.
45 to 1
All totaled, people asked around 45 questions. My husband and I submitted 29 questions and asked additional questions during the meeting. https://thetabernaclejournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/4.12.23-S.F-Brooks-Town-Hall-Questions_Comments.pdf
In comparison, the committee asked one question (What will the building look like?). It remains disappointing that the committee shows so little curiosity about or interest in its multi-million dollar project.
The public questions ranged between the ordinary (Q: What’s that squiggly line on the plan?) to the programmatic (Q: Can we have a library? Will the committee rent out the community center?) to corrections of site selection (Q: How are you going to make this important building visible when it’s set so far back from the road and is obscured by houses and heavy vegetation?).
Throughout the Q & A session, the professionals and staff engaged on all of the questions. But, too often, they could only say that it was too early in the design process. For example, the answers to questions about visibility were: ‘It’s too early to tell’ and ‘We’ll put up a sign.’
The committee didn’t recognize that some issues need to be addressed sooner rather than later. Visibility, for example, is an issue that started with site selection and shows up in wetlands issues, site layout, architecture, buffers, fences, landscaping and, lastly, signage. By saying it’s too early in the design process to address each of those items, they’ve given up the possibility to address visibility comprehensibly.
After the Q and A session closed, Deputy Mayor Hartman moved to approve the plans.
???!!!WHAT!!!!????
It’s stunning that Deputy Mayor Hartman, who didn’t ask a single question, made a motion to approve the plans for this multi-million dollar project.
In the discussion of the motion, Committeeman McNaughton commented that the committee should explore the idea of eliminating the proposed community center from the new building. He suggested that the community center be located at old Town Hall and re-purpose this historic building.
Finally, a committee member was willing to discuss an idea in public. Deputy Mayor Hartman’s motion to approve the plans died without a second.
Where Does the Tabernacle Committee Go From Here?
With a bonding capacity of $15 million dollars and a property that’s about twice as large as they need, the committee can easily build a new municipal complex on this flag lot. For most committee members, that seems to be enough.
Based on their limited public discussions, committee members always wanted to build a municipal complex on this site and didn’t care to think outside that box. They didn’t look closely at alternative sites. The committee has never shown any concern that the new municipal complex will be set far back on a flag lot out of public view. They haven’t cared about what questions the public asked or whether the public got answers to their questions.
It remains to be seen whether the committee will continue to respond to public questions and comments and discuss the municipal complex at public meetings. I hope that the April 17, Q and A wasn’t a one-off that the committee will use to check the box “public involvement”!
Old Town Hall
Until Committeeman McNaughton spoke up, the committee hadn’t shown much interest in what happens to the old municipal site.
The public has asked questions and commented about the use of the old municipal site since the committee presented the October 2021 Facilities Assessment of old town hall and associated buildings 1½ years ago. The committee ignored almost all of them.
The re-use of the old town hall as a community center sounds like a good idea. The township should explore and consider this re-use. It’s time that the committee put some thought into its work.
