TEWKSBURY – On Monday, September 19, City Manager Richard Montuori and Director of Public Works Brian Gilbert hosted a public forum to present and discuss the latest plans for the proposed joint maintenance facility at 999 Whipple Road. City Engineer Kevin Hardiman and Director of School Maintenance Jon Marchand were also present.
The project, in planning since 2020, will be on the mandate during the special municipal assembly of Monday, October 3, 2022 as articles 3, 4 and 5.
The project takes advantage of existing facilities and features at DPW’s current site and creates new spaces that will more adequately house equipment and personnel, improving “operational efficiency”, according to Jeff Alberti of Weston and Sampson, who has presented the project plan.
According to Alberti, bringing the school’s maintenance department onto DPW property centralizes the storage and maintenance of equipment and creates cost savings.
The school’s maintenance department had no permanent facility to work from for years, despite being tasked with overseeing more than a million square feet of school space and 165 acres. ground.
The plan is to reuse DPW’s existing wing-like building and construct a new adjacent building that will reduce site development costs, provide workers with a safe working space, improve energy efficiency and help protect the Tewksbury’s million dollar fleet of the elements.
Currently, the material is stored outside due to lack of space. The current building is 40-60 years old and not up to today’s building code.
According to Alberti, the adaptive reuse model, along with multiple design iterations, will reduce the cost of the project by 25% to $27,997,000. Construction costs and supply chain challenges forced the project team to redesign the project to stay within the desired cost parameters.
Alternate designs are also part of the plan, delineating future office and equipment storage space should conditions prove favorable or should DPW needs dictate.
The money for the project will be funded under the existing budgeted debt service, which means that a 2½ debt relief proposal is not required for this project. Montuori will seek to transfer $1.5 million of available cash and borrow $26.5 million through a bond issue.
In addition, $2.2 million has already been approved at the October 2019 town hall, which has been used for this design and engineering services project.
Montuori said “this project is necessary,” but he will not borrow money until offers are received and the economic conditions are assessed.
“The economy has to be stable or we won’t move forward,” Montuori said, referring to interest rates and a possible recession.
The design features of the facility call for a wash bay equipped with undercarriage jets, large enough to accommodate all municipal vehicles, including fire trucks; roofs to accommodate solar panels; energy-saving presence detectors for light and mechanical devices; superinsulation and cabling infrastructure to facilitate the increased use of electric vehicles in the future.
The Tewksbury Community Pantry will remain in its current location on the property, and the existing administrative offices will remain, but will receive paint and a new roof section.
“The DPW touches the lives of residents every day by maintaining the infrastructure that the community relies on,” Alberti said, outlining the department’s 24-hour management, maintenance and engineering responsibilities during the presentation. .
During the public comment portion of the meeting, residents praised the project for its budget-conscious design, safety, and energy efficiency.
The presentation can be viewed on the city’s YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/c/TewksburyTV/videos.
The next discussion of the project will take place at the regular school committee meeting on Wednesday, September 21 and at the public finance committee hearing on Monday, September 26, 2022.
