Princeton's new city hall design nearly done

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December 7, 2012

Princeton's new city hall design nearly done

By TAMMIE TOLER Princeton Times The Zope Gazette Fri Dec 07, 2012, 05:04 AM EST

PRINCETON — Design work is almost done on Princeton’s new municipal building, opening the door for the construction phase of the $2.5 million project.

If the plans work out as expected, the former First Community Bank building should start to look like a city hall within the next three to four months.

Architect Todd Boggess, of E.T. Boggess Architects, met with Princeton City Council Wednesday to review the upper and lower floor plans for the inside of the structure. After six “reiterations” of the design plans, Boggess said he felt like the current draft is a good mixture of the two most popular, functional plans.

On the entry level, where most of the city government offices and City Council chambers will be set, Boggess said many of the existing elements of the structure will remain in place.

“We’ve designed this to leave as much as possible in place,” Boggess said, adding that he plans to meet with Charles Vannatter, of the West Virginia Fire Marshal’s Office, today to determine whether the existing ceilings and sprinkler system may safely remain in place.

If the ceilings and sprinkler system are good to go, Boggess said the only area on the main level that will require widespread reconfiguration and reconstruction will be the City Council meeting space.

Creating the City Council chambers will require the construction of additional walls and a redesign of the area adjacent to the current main entrance.

The main floor will house offices for the city manager, clerk, finance department, code enforcement, and several administrative assistants. In addition, it includes a board room inside what was formerly First Community Bank’s vault and several multipurpose meeting rooms on one side of the structure.

“It definitely gives you more area,” Boggess said. “It will also give you a multipurpose space that maybe the community could use.”

Previous discussions have focused on the idea that the city could possibly lease the excess space inside the building to a non-profit organization. Boggess said that is still feasible, given the design that is under review now, but he said he was surprised at the amount of the area that the city has put to use.

“There’s not a lot of extra space. There’s not as much as I thought there was going to be,” he said.

The bottom level of the two-story structure will become the headquarters for Princeton Police Department, complete with offices for the chief, supervising officers and administrative staff, as well as a new squad room, interview areas, two adult holding cells, a juvenile holding area, temporary evidence storage, an evidence safe and a small gun safe to secure firearms.

“The existing space [already in place in the former bank building] is actually working out very, very well for them,” Boggess said.

The only request PPD leaders made that is not yet in the plans is for a training room. Although he did not designate such an area, the architect said one of the existing multipurpose rooms could easily serve as a training place.

“We anticipate that this plan will evolve, but I feel like we’re really close,” Boggess said.

Although City Council can provide input on the design of the structure, the building will actually belong to the Princeton Planning Commission, until the bonds that allowed the purchase of the building are paid. Therefore, that commission must meet to approve plans before bidding and building may start.

Once the schematics get the Building Commission’s OK, Boggess estimated design on the building should be finished in January. Then, he said construction could likely begin within 90 days.

Mayor Patricia Wilson said that news was welcome, since she “wanted to be in the building yesterday.”

Councilman Tim Ealy also voiced his support.

“I think it looks really good,” he said.

So far, there is still almost $1.27 million of the bond funds available.

— Contact Tammie Toler at ttoler@ptonline.net.

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Princeton's new city hall design nearly done

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