Hopewell Borough continues work on a renovation project for improvements to the borough’s Department of Public Works (DPW) facility.
An initial presentation on architectural plans with additions, alterations, new buildings for the renovation project was given to Borough Council members and the public at the governing body’s regular meeting on June 5.
Mayor Ryan Kennedy said the building committee and council has been working on the renovations for some time.
“I very much appreciate the work on it and want to thank the building committee and want to thank former Council President Charles Morehouse in advocating for this project over the years and very much looking forward to the next steps …”
Council President David Mackie said the work is “really overdue.”
The existing DPW property is located in the borough at 11 Burton Ave. There is a single entrance off of Burton Ave.
From the entrance of the property, there are two initial buildings to drive through on the driveway path. Past the two buildings there is an an existing asphalt maintenance yard and there is a metal building and also a salt shed.
“From Burton Avenue we call it (Building 1) on the left and (Building 2) on the right,” said Ronica A. Bregenzer, an architect based out of Princeton, who the borough hired for the DPW renovation project. “Building one on the left is the garage with the facilities for (DPW workers) – a shower, bathroom, a place to eat.
“The second building (on the right) is what we call the water building where (Water Department Director Dave Misiolek) has lots of his materials and also his office is in there as well. Both buildings are probably we think dating back to the 1920s.”
Both initial buildings are in need of repairs, said Bregenzer. In the back, the existing metal garage building and salt shed would be removed in the renovation project. Those buildings have leaks in the roofs, not large enough for the use, and too small for the use and salt.
In the renovation proposal, the entrance into the DPW property there will be parking spaces to the right with an ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) parking space. There will be a building addition to the existing one-story building (Building 1 on the left) that would be a proposed office. There would be an entry and garage.
A rain garden will be in front of the proposed addition to Building 1.
“We do require stormwater management,” Bregenzer said. “We are under the allowable impervious surface for the borough, but we are adding about roughly 4,200 square feet of impervious coverage. So, there will be at least one rain garden here in the front and most likely two in the back and if we need to, a storage tank or something for stormwater management. These are all things we have to work out moving ahead.”
In the proposed renovation of existing Building 1, which is currently the garage with facilities, it would have two office spaces, space for parts storage, an open office and files, there would be a kitchenette, locker room, shower and changing room, and toilet in the building.
There is a proposed entrance, break and meeting addition to Building 1. There is also a proposed new garage and shop addition.
For the existing water building (Building 2), it is partly in a flood area, and the borough does not want to put much money into it. The only proposed changes are the removal of the chimney and asphalt shingle roof. They would repair the roof, and the department could keep the building as storage as well, Bregenzer said.
There is a proposed gate between renovated Building 1 and water building (Building 2).
For the two buildings in the back, there is a proposed salt building (Building 3) that is 544 gross square feet and to the left would be a proposed metal, semi-heated, three-bay garage building (Building 4) that is close to 1,900 square feet for storage of all the equipment, trucks, snowplows.
Borough Administrator Doug Walker said next steps are to get pricing based on the architectural concepts, and work is being done on the earth work and stormwater management.
“Then of course we will put together a plan for the project and come back to council and say, ‘Do you approve the concept, and this is what the concept is going to cost,'” he said. “A much more formal presentation [will be presented] once we have some pricing.
“… The public works folks are lying on the ground to do the work under trucks and things like that. This (renovation) will bring us some lifts that are mobile, so they can work indoors and outdoors to service our trucks.”
The building improvements will also allow for the borough to store its public works vehicles.
