The Cape Charles Town Council voted Thursday to move forward with plans for a new municipal building. There were five options on the table, and Council chose Option #5, constructing a new building for all functions except the library. The library will remain at its current location. The town would sell the Municipal and Civic Center buildings and the third floor of the library building.
Staff recommended Option #1, mainly because the cost was lower than Option #5. The consensus among Town Council was that, even as Option #1 was cheaper, there were too many issues and too many unknowns regarding the renovation of the structure at 14 Plum Street.
Councilman Bennett noted that anytime an older structure is renovated, you never know what will be found once construction begins. In many cases, structural work will add time and significantly raise the cost.
The logistics of renovating 14 Plum were also problematic. The police would move out of the first floor, staff would move from the second to the first while the second floor was renovated. After the second-floor work is completed, staff and construction crews would switch while the first floor is renovated. The disruption to the daily work routine while all this went on would be too much.
Option #5 would include selling the library, then buying back the first floor, keeping the operations just as they are. The third floor would become apartments or condos.
The location of the new municipal building will be at the geographic center of town, just south of the Rosenwald School building.
Great…and remember we sold the old school for how much?? Renovation and keeping the feel of the town alive is what buyers have been doing here and so the town cannot do the same? Keep spending .
Any chance these third floor condos will be “affordable housing”?
Hey Colleen!
The person who bought the school, is back in town. But he only brought $10.00 for the municipal building!
The new municipal building will be built as an ivory-white marble mausoleum (Taj Mahal) for the “ever spending” lazy town council. Where is all this money coming from? Who could afford to build a municipal building, with the cost of building materials now a days?
How much you want to bet, that the cost of the new building will double?
Is Joe Biden on the town council?
And the lambs are lead to the slaughterhouse.
Another great job by the town council.
Hey, that’s wonderful–the new building will be down-wind from the sewage treatment plant!
Double the tax revenue and you need something to spend it on. Why not a new building, that will soak up some of the windfall. I’m sure if they give it some idle thought the town council can come up with more projects.