Kirchner: No Easy Solution for Lansdale Borough Hall Renovations

Resident Jean Fritz showed up at the informal Lansdale town hall session this week at the parks and recreation building with her expansive list of questions regarding life in Lansdale Borough.

One simple question she poised to Borough Manager Timi Kirchner, who was in attendance at the session: Is there some money already in the budget to start renovations on Lansdale Borough Hall?

The answer, however, was not so simple.

Kirchner said the topic of borough hall comes up monthly in the administration and finance committee meetings. In those meetings, the working document of capital projects is reviewed, which lists projects completed and projects in the queue for each year.

Borough hall renovations, she said, is on that queue list, and its estimated cost is that of preserving the historic nature of the building and renovating it to best accommodate administration and the police department.

She said the inclusion of that estimate also acts as a cost comparison and efficiency comparison for the alternative.

"The emphasis is on maintaining the historic nature of the building," Kirchner said. "To fix everything, the buiding would have to be essentially gutted back to the walls. That's what we're talking about now."

"The point is, to fix anything in the building is to put good money after bad," she said. "If the roof is not constructed well, to repair it is never going to work. You can repair it over and over again and the damage will continue."

Councilman Jason Van Dame said it is tough to keep water from getting through the membranes on the roof with heavy HVAC and electrical equipment on top of it.

Kirchner said the borough does not want to keep putting money into repairs when the alternate solution is to do a full renovation and take everything back to the walls, thus fixing the problems.

"Money in the capital budget is designated (for that)," she said. "That's why we did a full facilities study. We want to get an objective look at all of this."

She said when the borough makes a commitment to borough hall and does it, it is better for the town.

"There's no easy solution to this," she said, "but there is a solution."

Kirchner referenced Debbie Henning, who spoke up at a council meeting this year on the laurels of saving borough hall from potential demolition. Henning said then that borough hall is the first thing drivers and train commuters see when they come into town.

"I heard her," Kirchner said Monday night, "and she's right. We have to do it in such a way that it's a beacon."

Resident Bob Willi said he found some irony in the borough hall debate: The same people who are adamant about saving borough hall are the same people who want to tear down 311 W. Main St.

"With 311, proper steps were taken to ensure the longevity with that," Willi said, who is a former 311 W. Main Task Force member.

Kirchner agreed—311 W. Main St., Lansdale Borough Hall and Madison Parking Lot are three amenities that define the character of Lansdale.

"When people are on the train, what have they looked at for years? One ugly lot," she said. "What does that say about Lansdale?"

Kirchner said all three projects will require some "heavy lifting" to get done.

"Once done, they are something to be proud of," she said. "This is Lansdale."

Councilwoman Mary Fuller, who moderates the town hall session, said the borough cannot be pennywise and dollar foolish.

"With 311, it's a money pit. It's just sitting there and there's a lot of money being wasted on nothing," Fuller said. 

Kirchner said 311 W. Main St. is probably the most talked about building in town, so it deserves to be a place for people to gather in Lansdale.

"And, if somebody saw an opportunity in the building," she said, alluding to public opinion of selling off the property, "we would have heard about it day one."