Cost Of Bel Air Town Hall Renovation Higher Than Expected

BEL AIR, MD — A construction company will be awarded more than $10.4 million to expand the Bel Air Town Hall and Bel Air Police Department. Lawmakers in Bel Air voted Monday night to authorize granting of the contract to Whiting-Turner.

The approval came 15 years after the town of Bel Air first began studying ways to update its police station. Its current physical space — which is under Town Hall on Hickory Avenue — presents challenges for staffing, storing evidence and keeping detainees. It is also out of compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and does not meet law enforcement accreditation standards.

In July, the town of Bel Air raised taxes for the first time since 2004 by 4 cents per $100 of assessable value of real and personal property taxes. About 3 cents were slated to go toward the debt on the project to expand the Bel Air Town Hall and police station.

Construction was estimated at $8.6 million by the design firm Crabtree, Rohrbaugh & Associates Architects.

In fact, it will cost more than that, town officials found after issuing a request for proposals.

Whiting-Turner submitted a bid of $10,407,625, which was the lowest of the six offers the town received in September, according to town staff. Already, the town has committed to about $1 million toward the Town Hall project for the design, and the construction cost may rise beyond the $10.4 million bid.

"Given the current climate," Bel Air's Director of Planning Kevin Small said at Monday night's Town Hall meeting, contingencies will “likely expand this price."

Construction was slated to begin in October and could be complete by spring 2023, based on the plan outlined by Crabtree, Rohrbaugh & Associates.

The "schedule may also fluctuate as we get further into the project," Small said.

One commissioner voted against authorizing the contract.

“I’m struggling with the cost of the project,” said Commissioner Patrick Richards, the lone nay vote on the five-member board.

"We haven't even put a shovel in the ground,” Richards said. As a member of the private sector, Richards said he would expect someone to value-engineer the plan.

"I know construction costs are through the roof,” said Richards, who is the vice president of real estate for Laureate Education. "Without having any work progress at this point, I have no idea as we sit here today what the future cost is going to be."

Costs will continue going up the longer the town waits, the other commissioners said.

"This is a national issue of manufacturing costs," Commissioner Donna Kahoe said. "I’m afraid that if we wait, who says it’s coming down, or it's going to level out?"

Federal funds may help offset the cost of building the new Bel Air Town Hall and police station, town officials said.

Finance Director Lisa Moody said that the federal government had given the town about $10 million through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), which provided $130 billion for local governments around the country.

Local governments during the pandemic have been tasked with providing extra services and emergency response despite lower revenues, according to the U.S. Treasury Department, which has overseen disbursement of the COVID-19 stimulus funds.

So far the town has received about half of the total stimulus money, Moody reported at the town commissioners' Oct. 12 work session.

It is unclear how much of the funds may be used for the project to renovate the town hall and police station, since the federal money may only be used for specific purposes.

Commissioner Erin Hughes said Monday night that the situation causing the project to cost more is also enabling the town to move forward.

'Using the ARPA funding requires us to pay higher wages for certain parts of the project," Hughes said. "ARPA funds because of the COVID situation are what are going to allow us to complete this project."

Already, town leaders had cut 8,000 square feet from the Town Hall project, Hughes said.

"I'm just worried that going back to the drawing board," Hughes said, "construction costs and everything have skyrocketed."

Studies for the Bel Air Police Department space were conducted in 2006, 2009 and 2018.

Each time the town has delayed the project, costs have increased, Commissioner Kevin Bianca said.

"This is our, what, third bite at the apple over the past two decades,” Bianca said. With each delay, Bianca said: "It ends up ballooning into a much bigger project.”

The total cost to the town for the Town Hall project will likely be $12,797,541, officials said at the work session, after reviewing the bids.

See Also: Bel Air Town Hall Renovation Project Marks Milestone