How was it decided where a new Town Hall would be located?
The Town Office Building Committee (TOBC) studied the permitting requirements, wastewater, aesthetics and street presence, synergies with nearby amenities, expandability, land acquisition cost, and development costs. Ultimately the combined town office and craft shop (Former Rescue building) parcels emerged as the clear front-runner.
Who designed the proposed new Town Hall?
The TOBC put out a public RFP to select an Architectural Firm, 4 proposals were received and AES Northeast was selected to create the design in collaboration with the TOBC.
How did you determine the project cost?
Part of the initial design scope of work included engaging a professional estimation firm to provide a detailed cost estimate for the project.
Who is paying for the design of the new Town Hall?
The design is broken into two phases, Up to the Town Meeting Day vote, the first phase of design has been paid for completely by a Grant.
Phase 2 to fully design, detail, and manage the bidding and construction is included in the proposed Bond.
See our Funding Plan page for a full breakdown
Why don't we build on the existing site?
Our proposal IS to build on the existing town owned parcel. The proposed building would be located immediately east of the current town hall. This will allow the existing town office to continue to operate in the current building until the new building is complete.
Vermont State Statutes require that towns maintain open public access to land records. In order to build on the same footprint, a temporary town office would need to be secured, along with a temporary land records vault which would greatly increase the overall project cost.
How did you come up with the floor plan and elevations for the new Town Hall?
The floor plans, elevations, renderings, and building specifications, developed thus far have been a collaboration between the architect, town office staff, the TOBC, and the selectboard.
Who is going to pay for this?
A town vote will be necessary to approve the bond financing. The vote will be on March 4th, 2025.
See our Funding Plan page for a full breakdown
Who is going to own it?
The Town already owns the parcels, and the building will be owned by the town.
Have you considered other properties?
The TOBC originally looked at 10 other parcels in both the Downtown and Keeler Bay Town centers, and narrowed in on two sites, the existing town office/rescue parcel, and the future park parcel located behind the White meeting House. A scoring matrix that evaluated 17 different points between the two sites was developed, and the Existing Town office/Rescue parcel was the clear choice.
How do we know we are getting a good deal on the construction?
The Building design, once complete will be put out for public bid. The project will also to the maximum extent feasible use "open" product specifications allowing the greatest number of options in materials.
Any qualified contractor may bid on the project ensuring competitive pricing. The TOBC will review the bids and make a recommendation to the selectboard based on a scoring matrix published in the Request for Bids which will weigh factors like price, schedule, and experience.
What will happen to the existing Town Hall?
After the new Town Hall is constructed, and operations moved to the new building, the existing town hall will be demolished and parking for the new building will be created.
What will happen to the Craft Shop building?
Unfortunately the new Town Hall will displace the Craft Shop, as the building will need to be demolished at the start of the project to make way for the new Town Office.
What will the energy savings be in a new building?
The existing town office upgraded to high efficiency heat-pumps a few years ago, so the savings is limited to insulation and air-sealing improvements of the new building. The new building is also larger than the existing town office, so there is more area to heat and cool which will offset some savings. Even still, we expect a few hundred dollars in savings per year in energy use.
What is the approximate timeline for construction start and construction completion?
With the complications of leaving the current town office operational, and not being able to complete the site work and parking until after the town office is moved, we expect construction to take about 12 months.
We are targeting groundbreaking in spring of 2026, and concluding around the same time in 2027.
Will this create traffic issues on Rt 2 through town while construction is underway?
While there will be increased truck traffic, disruption to route 2 should be minimal. A new overhead power-line will need to cross route 2 to feed the new building. There will also be some work along the edge of route 2 to install new sidewalks/curb cuts.
How can i find what my property is assessed for?
For the most up-to-date information refer to the town's Online Lister Card database.
- Type your address in the search
- Click on your name/property
- Look for "Total Value"
Struggling with the Online database?
Find your FY22-23 property value from the Grand List PDF
Need more information? reach out to the South Hero Listers:
https://southherovt.org/listers/
What about the Pharmacy Building?
In early January it came to the attention of the committee that the former McGregor’s Pharmacy building at 332 U.S. Route 2 is now for sale. The tenant recently vacated, and the building owner is now interested in selling the building. The committee is working to outline the work scope and associated cost to retrofit the structure for a town hall, as well as procure a building inspection to get a sense of the state of the 20-year-old building. There are several challenges with this option including a lack of sufficient onsite wastewater capacity, a looming roof replacement, possible code required energy improvements, challenges with constructing a municipal vault in the building, the overall renovation costs, and property purchase costs. Another concern is that the required off-site wastewater improvements may trigger Act 250 jurisdiction as well as the acquisition costs of additional land or easements for this required wastewater capacity. We do not have all of the answers today, however we are actively engaged in determining if this property may be a viable alternative. We hope to have some answers in the next few weeks. If this property makes the most sense then the committee will recommend this option to the Selectboard. A Yes vote on Town meeting day allows both options to be considered.
[Question from Meeting #1] What is the Cost of Just the Vault?
The Vault is estimated to be approximately $115,000 based on our construction estimate from VIS Construction Consulting.
[Question from Meeting #1] What is the sale value of the current town office/craft shop site if we were to proceed with the pharmacy?
The committee is actively working on researching this.
[Question from Meeting #1] How much would it cost if we were to renovate the existing town hall & craft shop
Evaluating renovation costs of the existing town hall were not part of the Charge/Scope of the building committee. This question has been referred back to the selectboard. If they take action on this we will update this response.
Some factors in Renovating the existing town hall based on work of the Town office Study Committee: Rent and relocate town office and vault during renovation; crawlspace requires continuous vapor barrier, drainage, & sump pump; structural reinforcement of floor joists and roof rafters from rot and water damage; mold mitigation throughout crawlspace, second floor and attic; replace non-functional windows; repoint exterior block walls, replace stone lintels over windows, reinforce walls where required; build addition to meet growing space needs of the town office, including a new vault; replace septic system with new "best fix" system; demolish craft shop (required to absorb septic capacity into enlarged town office).
[Question from Website] Can the vault be eliminated or significantly reduced in size by electronically storing town public records using companies?
According to Vermont Statutes, 24 V.S.A. § 1154, 1157, 1161, and 1163; the Town Clerk is required to maintain records "By Book" or "in Books". South Hero has partnered with Cott Systems to digitize many of our land records to increase access to our records, visit https://southherovt.org/administration/ and click "South Hero Town Records" to view these. Unfortunately at this time, it's our understanding Digital-Only storage of Records is not permitted by the State of Vermont.