Plan to Fund New Town Hall Soft Costs Passes Advisory Committee

A proposal to fund the soft costs for a new town hall has received the ok from the Advisory Committee.

In their recommendations for the Special Town Meeting on Nov. 17, the committee voted 9-1 to recommend approval of Article 3 which would transfer about $557,000 to pay for the soft costs associated with the construction of a new town hall to be constructed in the parking lot of the current town hall located at 40 South Street.

The vote of confidence is an improvement from last year’s proposal which did not receive approval with a 4-4 deadlock.

“At that time, the AdCom recommended disapproval due to the size of the proposed new building, the resulting hard dollar costs associated the the proposed new building design, concerning regarding project ownership given the absence, at that time, of a permanent town manager, and the perceived lack of citizen input gathered during the assessment process,” the recommendation said.

The recommendation goes on to say that the reduction of the building to 15,500 sq. ft., Town Manager Bill Keegan and the Permanent Building Committee taking ownership of the project, and the establishment of the town hall working group were factors in the recommendation.

“Following several presentations and lengthy discussions, the committee concluded that the previous concerns had been adequately researched and addressed by the Town Hall Working Group which was established by the town manager, comprised of both town officials and Foxborough residents, and fully vetted the main issues: new building versus rehabilitation of current building and location of new building,” the recommendation said.

The remaining articles also received approval from the Advisory Committee. Below are the votes and descriptions for the remaining articles on the warrant. Click here to read the warrant for the Special Town Meeting.

Article 1: To transfer funds for an additional police officer to the appropriate town accounts. The comprehensive funding for this officer will be provided on an annual and ongoing basis by NPP (Patriot Place) per the agreement related to the Splitsville entertainment and liquor licenses.

The comprehensive costs of the police officer will be assessed annually by both the town and NPP to arrive at the required funding. The ongoing funding is not predicated on the continuing operations of Splitsville, but rather any venue presently known at Patriot Place operating with any licensed operation.

The police officer will not be assigned exclusively to either Splitsville or Patriot Place but will allow the police chief flexibility to provide coverage throughout the town based upon need.

This article was recommended for approval 8-0.

Article 2: The DPW’s proposal to move all water department staff and businesses from town hall and DPW staff from the highway garage to a new modular building to be constructed on DPW grounds. The building has been budgeted for $600,000.

Neither the existing water and sewer nor the highway/tree and park offices are adequate or effective as operational facilities. The water and sewer office does not have sufficient square footage to house staff, pertinent records or necessary equipment, let alone customer space for the citizens of the town seeking assistance. The design for the future town hall does not include the DPW in its plans and to add them back in would far exceed the cost of the modular building.

A new DPW building will consolidate the current fractured DPW management structure in hopes of getting the best out of all existing department. The placement of water and serwer and highway/tree and park clerical and management staff in one area will allow for cross training, better and more efficient use of staff.

The warrant article provides a mechanism to repay the water and sewer enterprise for the town’s share of the building over time according to the scheduled outlined in the article. No additional funds are being requested for the building.

As an enterprise account, the water and sewer department pays rent to the town. Along with that, a commission speace study concluded that a modular building would be the most cost efficient route to pursue. Modular buildings are practical, the best cost alternative to the town and have an approximate life span of 40 years.

This article was recommended for approval 8-0.

Article 4: The Board of Selectmen’s proposal to replace the current sign bylaws with an updated version. A major change from the existing bylaw is the addition of five pages of clear and understandable definitions. The proposed sign bylaw contains three separate sign districts: Sign District 1 consisting of the Route 1 corridor, Sign District 2 consisting of the majority of the town, and Sign District 3 corresponding to the center of Foxborough (within a 1,000 foot radius of the town center).

Generally speaking, District 1 is the least restrictive with respect to the types and sizes of signs allowed, District 2 and 3 are more restrictive than District 1 and differ from each other in the following ways:

District 2 allows electronic signs while District 3 does not.

District 3 allows portable and projecting signs while District 2 does not.

A previous version of the article allowed electronic billboards in District 1 but that section has been pulled and will be considered as an amendment at a future town meeting.

This article was recommended for approval 8-0

Article 5: The purpose of this article is to amend section 11.1 of the zoning bylaws by deleting the existing definition of accessory apartment and inserting a new definition that is more descriptive of what an accessory apartment is and applies to all districts in town.

This article was recommended for approval 8-0.

Article 6: The Foxborough Center Overlay District has been established as an overlay district at the heart of the town to promote a walkable, mixed-use area that fulfills many of the community’s governmental, spiritual, service, residential, and social needs. The purpose of the article is to amend the zoning bylaw to include the Foxborough Center Overlay District in section 2.2 and 2.3.1 and add the plan of the FCOD map prepared by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council as Appendix C of the zoning bylaws.

This article was recommended for approval 8-0.

Article 7: The purpose of this article is to amend the definition of “height” in the zoning bylaws to better reflect the building code and present building practices.

Currently, the height of a building is measured from the basement floor to the top of a flat roof or the mean height between the top plate and the highest peak in a pitched roof.

The basement is no longer a factor in the new calculation of height, and a basement is no longer considered to be a story.

The zoning bylaw states that a residential structure can be no more than 35 feet in height or 2.5 stories. Some members of the Advisory Committee expressed concern that the new definition of “height” could adversely affect new construction of houses with walk-out basements and low sloping grounds. In many buildings, deducting the basement and adding the other half of the room ends up around the same height. However, Building Commission Bill Casbarra estimates that less that one percent of new construction would be too tall under the new definition, and he believes that adding some fill to change the slope of the land or changing the pitch of the room slightly should get a “too tall” building below the maximum.

Also, it should be noted that new construction of buildings with finished walk-out basements not meeting the the new height requirement would not meet the current 2.5 story regulations.

This article was recommended for approval 7-2-1