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Date: 9/10/2015
WILBRAHAM – The house at 2780 Boston Road was recently demolished, clearing the way for construction of a new $8 million police station.
Residents voted to approve a debt exclusion of $4.2 million for the project during the 2015 Annual Town Meeting and Town Election in May.
Police Station Building Committee Chair Roger Fontaine said debris has been removed from the site and borings and a site survey have been completed.
“The survey also requested a public hearing with the Conservation Commission and that has already taken place two weeks ago,” he added. “We’re cleared with that and to the best of our knowledge at this point there are no more public meetings that are required.”
Fontaine said the Conservation Commission did find any issues regarding the project.
He noted that the building committee is now working on finishing the documentation of construction drawings, which would allow the project to go out to bid for a builder sometime at the end of September or in beginning of October.
“We’re anticipating a start date of late fall,” Fontaine said. “[It could be] the end of November, maybe the first of December. It really depends on how the bidding process goes.”
He added that inclement winter weather may affect the construction, but the committee hopes that an early November start date would allow concrete to set in within the foundation and a frame for the building to be completed.
“We should be getting a lot of stuff done internally before the winter sets in,” Fontaine said. “It would give us the full winter to work.”
The project’s schedule calls for 15 to 18 months before completion, he noted. The best-case scenario for the project’s completion date would be December 2016.
“I wouldn’t see why we wouldn’t meet that at this point in time,” he added.
The committee also hired Marlborough-based Construction Monitoring Services as the owners project manager, which would oversee day-to-day activities of the project.
Thus far, the committee has reviewed the civil engineering work, including the site’s plot and survey and the mechanical review, one aspect of which includes heating systems. The next step is to review the communications and electrical designs.
“Those are the basic ingredients that allow the architect to put the final [documents] together,” he added.
Fontaine said when the project receives its bids, the committee would chose alternates in case its an agreement cannot be struck with the committee’s top choice for builder.
“We can pretty much ensure to stay under the budgeted number and be able to select the contractor and move forward,” he added.
Police Chief Roger Tucker said there have been no design changes to the proposed 15,800-square-foot project since residents approved it.