The Township Committee has given the go-ahead to township professionals to enter the next phase in the design for the renovation and expansion of Plainsboro’s former library facility into a community center.
Moving on to the next phase of the project, which will provide the space for the township’s recreational and cultural programs, did not require formal action. But the Township Committee gave permission after hearing about the projected financial impact associated with the project at its May 12 meeting.
According to Greg Mayers, the township’s chief financial officer, the impact of the project on next year’s tax rate would be only 0.2 cents. The financial discussion was a follow-up to the committee’s April 28 meeting, where preliminary plans for the project were revealed.
Nicholas Duca, of D/H&K Architects in Moorestown, presented renderings on April 28 that call for a revamping of the outside landscape and renovation of the former library facility that will create meeting rooms, a cooking area, computer training rooms, a drop-in center that can be accessed after hours, bulk storage areas, a painting and crafts room, and a large space in the center of the library that can seat up to 220 people for lectures and other activities.
The renovation of the 19,200-square-foot existing structure and the outside plaza surrounding it could cost up to $4.7 million, Duca estimated, presenting a packet of various expenses that included a number of alternatives for the project and provided a breakdown of all the costs, including site surveying and civil engineering fees.
Duca said his firm was given a program by Joanne Lupica, the township’s recreation director, that the new facility would need to accommodate.
“One of the biggest problems you had was really the problem of the plaza,” said Duca. “The plaza has multiple issues.” Those issues include insufficient storm drainage, materials that have suffered from a lack of maintenance over the years, and a dilapidated set of pavers, which have risen and depressed as a result of alternating cold winter weather and hot summers. In addition, the plaza is invisible to visitors who are approaching the library.
“We are looking at not using square or rectangular pavers,” said Duca. Instead, the plans call for using a type of concrete surface that will be poured one time in bulk. “You eliminate all the little patterns of pavers that have given you problems over the years, especially with snow removal,” Duca added.
Plans also call for modification of storm drainage to take all of the water away from the site to remove any standing water. Low, drought-tolerant planting material will also replace the tall canopy trees that currently block visibility of the plaza. “You can’t really see the municipal building as you approach it, even when you’re on the plaza,” he said.
Duca also said that officials will keep the existing entrance ramp but will provide a longer ramp. Walls will also need to be repaired, he said.
Originally included in the plans was an outside stage overlooking the grassy area outside of the existing common building. Instead, to save costs, officials will keep that area grassy to allow for a stage in the future, if desired.
The first area visitors will approach when entering the new facility will be a registration desk, followed by an area for the director’s office and adjacent program coordinator’s office.
Heading further into the building, a kitchen area will be used as a cooking classroom as well as a staff kitchen area. “This is not a kitchen where we’re serving banquets,” Duca said. Adjacent to the kitchen is the arts and crafts classroom. “It’s the biggest and largest single space off from the main entrance,” he said. “It will be fairly messy in terms of activity.”
Adjacent to the arts and crafts room is one of two meeting rooms. The first can hold about 12 people and can also be used for staff meetings. The second, larger room can hold about 20 people, also for use by the public and for staff. It will also function as a film area.
The next area is the computer lab space, where the recreation department can hold adult computer classes and hold between 8 and 12 spaces.
One of the other features of the building will be the drop-in center, an isolated space off to the side of the building upon entering. “They want to allow individual control after hours when possibly the other portions of the recreation center are not operational,” he said. The other part of the center can be locked. “At the same time, we will have a pull-down curtain after hours,” he said. “You can see through it, but you can’t gain access to the other space, but you can gain access to the bathrooms,” Duca explained.
The drop-in center will be used for community groups like seniors, special needs groups, children, exercise classes, and social activities for large groups. Plans also call for modifications to the bathrooms to meet ADA requirements.
In addition, bulk storage areas will be provided along the side of the building to meet the storage needs over a number of years. “We have done recreational facilities in the past,” Duca said. “We find that the need for storage is paramount.”
The central space in the existing facility will be used for arts and enrichment programs. “We have developed a partition system that we can move and that is flexible,” he said. “It’s not attached to the ceiling, nor is it attached to the floor.” The space can be used for art displays, lecture series, stand-alone displays, concerts, and other activities. It could seat up to 220 people, he said.
The new facility will also feature new lighting, ceilings, and heating and air conditioning units. The existing roof will also need to be replaced, and work will need to be done to the windows and doors.
The total cost for construction alone was estimated then to be $4.91 million. However, Duca shows a total construction budget that came to a total of $3.95 million. That did not include other project costs, like furniture, civil engineering fees, design fees, site surveys, and other costs not typically included in estimates.
Duca said, though, that he did not want to report just the construction costs. So, he also added in a breakdown of those costs, bringing the entire budget to $4.74 million. “We’re giving you the hard costs.”
“I think you’d rather see what the total budget is, including fees and miscellaneous expenses, taking us all the way through to the end of the project,” Duca said. “What we’re trying to do is avoid surprises with this budget.”
Lupica told the committee she believed the plans “fit well into your overall plan for that village area where people are walking to a destination, like the library or to get coffee.”
At the May 12 meeting, Mayers provided the committee with three separate cost breakdowns. The first showed the tax impact next year of financing the township’s currently outstanding $17.3 million debt — without taking into account the expansion of the community center. The biggest impact from the current debt would be about 1.3 cents on the tax rate, Mayers estimated.
The second sheet showed the tax impact of the community center project, which was estimated to have an impact of 0.2 cents on the tax rate next year, which combined with the 1.3 cents for the current debt would bring a total impact of 1.5 cents on the tax rate.
“The reason why we did the sheet separately is to isolate the impacts of the proposed community center expansion, and that would be a $3.5 million debt service requirement,” Mayers said. “The reason why it’s only $3.5 million, even though it’s a project that’s estimated to be close to $5 million is because we had already allocated $1.5 million toward the cost in the 2009 capital improvement program.”
The third sheet showed the current $17.3 million debt, combined with $7 million of additional financing — which included the $3.5 million estimated for the expansion project and another $3.5 million for other projects put into the 2010 capital plan. All together, “that would bring us from 1.5 cents to about 1.7 cents next year, which is only about a 0.2 cents on next year’s rate for the community center part of it,” said Mayers.
“Even with this scenario, our debt service current and projected would be paid off by 2024. We’re talking about a 12 to 13-year payout on a project we could legally bond for 30 years,” he added.
Mayor Peter Cantu also pointed out that the cost estimates for the total project from the township’s architect — up to $4.7 million — were conservative.
Township Administrator Robert Sheehan echoed the sentiment. “What they’ve told us is what we’ve experienced with the library — the bids tend to come in 10 to 15 percent better than their estimates,” he said. “We also don’t have the impact of outside funding.”
Global healthcare firm Novo Nordisk has already donated $75,000 toward the project. And Cantu said he is looking to the county for funding. He said he had already been holding “conversations with Middlesex County officials about it, in hopes that we can achieve some level of support from Middlesex County. We will be following up with them and other avenues.”
