Lanesborough Police Station Committee Has Q&A with New Station Architect
LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — The Police Station Committee met with Brian Humes of Jacunski & Humes Architects on Wednesday for a Q&A on the site, design and specifics of the proposed new police station.
Humes and his firm have created a station design for two sites in town, 8 Prospect St. and Laston Memorial Park. When asked by Board Chair Kristen Tool about issues with the 8 Prospect St. site, Humes said it has several problems that he had to design around, such as its size and parking availability.
"I've been asked to design a building for that site. I've fulfilled that," he said. "I've seen other sites in town that I rated higher rated with a higher score than the Prospect Street site."
Humes said the town paid for a geotechnical engineering study of the previously proposed building site at Laston Memorial Park. This work, he said, will need to be done at 8 Prospect St. as well.
Committee member Glen Storie asked about a previously considered site near Skyline Country Club, which Humes rated highly, but land would need to be purchased to use it. Humes said the design made for 8 Prospect St. would easily fit on the Skyline site if the town purchases the property.
"Obviously, the site is plenty big enough to fit the site and dimensions," he said.
Humes said altering the building could impact the department's accreditation.
"The building, with the way it's designed and the functions and the features of the building, do aid in meeting accreditation procedural requirements," he said. "That said, you can alter the design of the building as long as you're understanding how it may impact the procedural requirements of accreditation."
Humes said he understands why the price of the building has been a concern for the community. He said many other communities have recently struggled with the high cost of capital projects, and determining exact prices is difficult.
"It's a crazy time to be betting right now," he said. "Wild swings on numbers. It really hasn't stabilized, and I think the unrest in the world is adding to that. And a lot of contractors are fearing they can't get products and the products, when they can't get them, the costs are going up."
The committee will be holding a joint meeting with the Board of Selectmen on Monday.
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