Renovation plans for inside Clarkston city hall are on hold for now, but DPW expansion plans costing up to $308,000 remain under consideration.
“Office renovation seems like icing on the cake,” said Council member Al Avery, at the Nov. 9 City Council meeting. “When money is available, then we can make the renovations.”
Facilities Committee member James Brueck presented four options to the council.
North Side Option 1 is to build a new, 1,925-square-foot garage into the Depot Park parking lot. With one 828-square-foot bay from the current garage,total DPW space would be 2,753 square feet.
The new utility building would cost $274,793; interior renovations of existing facilities, $94,119; and parking lot work, $30,000, for a total of $398,912.
North Side Option 2 is to add an attached 2,049-square-foot facility to the existing garage, extending west along the parking lot in Depot Park. With one bay from the current garage, 828 square feet, it would provide a total of 2,877 square feet for the DPW. Cost of the new addition would be $295,916; interior renovation, $94,119; and DPW parking revisions, $12,000, for a total of $402,035.
North Side Option 3 is to add a 972-square-foot addition to the north side of the existing garage with no impact on the parking lot or extending west of the existing garage
With current garage space of 1,656 square feet and 765-square-foot leased bay at Clarkston schools, it would total 3,393 square feet for the DPW.
New construction would cost $169,536; DPW parking revisions, $12,000; parking posts, $7,200; and structural retaining wall, $11,265, for a total of $200,001. Lease of the school garage bay is $250 a month. Option 3 includes no renovations to existing facilities.
Option 4 is a new, 3,000-square-foot, $400,000 utility building for equipment, close to the city on a site yet to be determined, with unknown property and site development costs. This would leave existing DPW building available for future renovations,
‘Option 4 really just scratches the surface,? Brueck said. ‘The cost is quite variable.?
The Facilities Committee is at an impasse and needed council input, he said.
‘We don’t want to spend lot of time without guidance from council,” he said. “We’re kind of spinning our wheels.”
The next level is to commission construction drawings and finalize costs, Brueck said.
Mayor Pro-Tem Eric Haven and Council member Michael Sabol said they favored Options One and Two. Avery said future digitization of files could reduce the need for renovation to create office storage space.
“We have an obligation to the citizens to not go into the hole,” he said. “That’s why I want to see the numbers before signing off on it.”
Renovations have always been presented as an alternative for the council to consider, Brueck said.
‘They don’t have to be done on day one,? he said.
The council, Avery, Haven, Sabol, and Council members Sharron Catallo, Jason Kneisc, and David Marsh, asked the Facilities Committee and treasurer to provide financing schedules for $200,000 and $308,000 projects. The $308,000 figure is from the first two options’ approximately $400,000 cost minus the $94,000 interior renovations.