Plans For Lyme's Town Campus—Construction Should Begin in July

By Janis Witkins

(Editor's Note: This article was originally posted by Janis Witkins on Lyme Town Campus Blogspot. It is reposted here with permission. You'll find detailed site plans on the blogspot under the headings "May 2013".) 

After Lyme's Annual Town Meeting on Monday night, Building Committee Chair Dan Hagan presented a status update on the town hall and library project and answered questions from the audience. For those who missed the meeting, the following is a summary of the points that were covered.

Dan began by introducing Wayne Czarnecki, one of the project managers from Enterprise Builders, and Jake Smith, also with Enterprise Builders, who will be the on-scene construction supervisor for the project. Jake will be on site every day during construction solving problems and making sure that everything runs smoothly.

Enterprise Builders has been hired as the project’s construction manager.  The company is located in Newington, CT, but one of the principals, Keith Czarnecki, lives in Old Lyme and has children in the school system. He knows the area and is excited about the project.

As construction manager, Enterprise Builders will give the town a guaranteed maximum price to build the new library and renovate the town hall.

The design is complete. The Building Committee will meet on June 6 to approve the final construction documents which will allow the project to go out to bid in mid-to-late June. Enterprise Builders will coordinate the bidding process.  Bids will be opened publicly at town hall, and Enterprise will use the accepted bids to calculate a guaranteed maximum price for the project. Throughout the period of construction, the town will hold the contingency funds.

The anticipated date to start construction is around July 21.  From start to finish, building is expected to take 13 months.

There will be two construction zones during the first part of the project. The first is the area around the new library which will be enclosed in a construction fence.   A truck entrance onto Route 156 will be created. Enterprise Builders will make sure that the entrance will accommodate the town’s fire and emergency vehicles.

Drivers will have to be careful when passing the truck entrance, but the library construction area shouldn’t impact the use of the town hall and library. The library will stay in its current building until the new one is finished. After the library moves, the old building will be demolished.

The second area, which encompasses the town hall, is more complicated because it is a renovation and an addition. In the first phase, the old church building where the town clerk’s and first selectman’s offices are currently located will remain untouched. This will be the temporary town hall. Town employees will double up, and a temporary building will be placed in front of the town hall. It will serve as the town’s meeting room during construction.

The rest of the building will be cordoned off. Renovation will begin on the area which presently houses the building department, planning and zoning, and the meeting room. At the same time, work will begin on the addition which will include offices and the new vault. The vault will be 400 sq. ft., which is the size required for a town the size of Lyme. The current vault is 100 sq. ft.

The phasing plan will make things more inconvenient than some others considered, and the community will have to put up with an unsightly temporary building in front of town hall, but it will shorten the project which in turn, saves money.

Once the addition and renovated section are finished, the town hall staff will move into their news offices. The items in the vault will probably be moved over a long weekend so that the town records will remain available to the public. Some items in the attic will also be moved to the vault. At this point, the work will begin on the church building. It will be turned into the new town meeting room.  The renovations include removing the walls and ceilings of the current offices and restoring the approximately 26 foot tin ceilings. 

Work is expected to go smoothly. The library is a new building and is essentially a residential build. There are just a few pieces of steel. Both the town hall and old library have been carefully examined, and lead paint and asbestos noted. There should be few surprises.

Once the project is finished, the stone wall along Route 156 will be restored and there will be just one entrance to serve both the town hall and library.

The Lyme School’s baseball field with be moved back toward the tennis courts this summer or early fall. The current diamond is partially on Town of Lyme property, and the land is needed for the town hall addition. The building committee is working closely with the school district, and the school administration has approved the plan.

The parking in front of the library and on the side of town hall will remain available during construction. The construction plans include expanded parking for both buildings – approximately 24 spaces for the library and 22 for the town hall. The parking area will be laid out with white lines.

At this time, there is not a lot of money in the budget for landscaping. The area will be graded and seeded. Plans also involve moving the war memorial and saving some of the current plants and landscape materials. The Building Committee is working with both garden clubs in town. It is possible that the Lyme Garden Club will have the funds to hire a landscape architect to create a plan and to purchase some plants.

The construction phasing is detailed and well thought out, and it will be executed by experienced people; however, it is flexible enough that as issues arise, it will be adjusted. Residents who see a problem are asked to go to Ralph Eno or Dan Hagan rather than to Jake. As Dan noted, “Jake doesn’t need 2,500 bosses.”