By Kerri Williams

WESTPORT – Following months of debate on where to build a new maintenance facility in town, the Parks and Recreation Commission on Tuesday decided to focus instead on what should be included in the new building and the site.

“We are not going to have a discussion on location at this moment,” said David Floyd, commission chairman. 

Building needs

Instead, the commission heard an update about the needs for the building and how much space it would require. The new building would replace a 50-year-old dilapidated shed that is currently being used by the department as the first step in the Longshore Capital Improvement Plan.

In February, the Planning Zoning Commission gave a thumbs down to a plan to relocate the maintenance building within Longshore Club Park. Since then, town officials have been sparring about where the facility should be located.

Somewhere

Erik Barbieri, Director of Parks and Recreation, said Monday that wherever the new facility is placed, it will need to be fit into the natural landscape, with plantings added.

“Nobody wants it near them,” Barbieri said. “But eventually, it’s going to go somewhere.” 

8-10,000 square feet 4,900 square feet

In his presentation to the commission, Gary Sorge, of Stantec Consulting Services, said that a new facility would need to be 4,900 square feet, significantly less than the 8-10,000 square feet in an earlier plan for the building.

The total of inside and outside space necessary would total 34,000 square feet, which is the same number previously requested for the site. The details were determined during a meeting between town staff and Stantec in July.

One of the elements that went into decreasing the building size was reducing the quantity of pallet storage, from 60 to 20. The pallets are used to store bulk supplies, such as fertilizer and seed, according to Nicholas Quatrano, parks superintendent. Those supplies can be moved in and out more quickly, he said, decreasing storage demands.

Vehicle storage important

The building includes a large area for maintenance vehicle storage, which Barbieri said is necessary, especially because of Westport’s climate. “We have hundreds of thousands of dollars of equipment that is out in the ocean air,” he said.

Andrew Colabella, District 4, concurred during the public comment portion of the meeting.

“Homeowners do not purchase a mower and leave it outside,” he said. “We need to store equipment inside. It’s good practice.”

Next: location recommendations

Sorge will return to the commission next month with recommendations on a location for the facility. The current needs assessment does not specify whether all the required space needs to be in one place. He added that a cost has not been applied yet to the project, as that would depend on where it is located.

Nothing outrageous

Commissioner Chrissy O’Keeffe said she was having a difficult time visualizing the new site based on Sorge’s description. “We are going from a shed, to a new building, to a multi-purpose facility,” she said.

Other commissioners questioned whether everything included in the assessment was a true need. Gery Grove said she wondered whether keeping a garbage truck under cover was necessary. “I don’t think that is an industry standard for New England,” she said.

For Commissioner Ronald Clarke, the assessment seemed reasonable. “Now let’s see if it fits in the town’s footprint and budget,” he said. “Nothing I heard tonight was outrageous.”