Politics & Government
Where Should New Village Hall Be Located?
Study group says current location is best for new one-story municipal building that could include expanded library.
The future Sussex will most likely remain on the site of the current one, but it will be a new building and only one story tall.
Members of the village’s Village Hall Study Group say they favor the use of the current campus with a new building, which would also allow for the planned future expansion of the .
“The two buildings could act as a complex with a green space in between,” architect Michael Bahr said. “And Village Hall could stay operational while the project would be going on.”
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The committee last week reviewed five possible site plans that stemmed from recommendations it made in April for the future home of village government.
Three of the options involved using the current site: building a one-story new Village Hall, adding an 11,000-square-feet addition to the current Village Hall, or building a new two-story Village Hall and possibly putting the library on the first floor.
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The new Village Hall is estimated to be about 20,000 square feet and the library expansion is projected at about 24,000 square feet.
Members dismissed two options: using a different site on Main Street near the Public Safety Building or locating the new building across from the National Guard Armory on Maple Avenue. The panel said both plans would take village government out of the downtown area.
Members said they would like to see a one-story Village Hall in the same place it is now and had reservations about the political hurdles that could exist with incorporating the library into the building since the library also serves the Town of Lisbon.
Fire Colin "Corky" Curtis attended last week's meeting where the plans were reviewed and advised strongly against the use of the current facility, pointing out it has major structural issues.
“We can’t use this building,” he said. “You can’t heat it, you can’t cool it and right now where I’m sitting the floor below me is where they just had to fill a big hole with concrete after there was a hollow spot right there.”
The committee will meet again in September to discuss more options and concepts for its preferred site plan.
