Powered by grants: complex heats up

Waterbury has landed a $30,000 grant to help renovate the heating and cooling systems in the current Waterbury Public Library building, once construction begins on a new $4.95 million municipal complex there.

The grant, announced last week, is administered by the Vermont Arts Council in conjunction with the Vermont Historical Society and Vermont Division for Historic Preservation. The money is intended to help nonprofit organizations and municipalities throughout the state “enhance, create or expand the capacity of an existing building to provide cultural activities for the public,” according the arts council.

Waterbury is one of 15 organizations sharing $189,153 in cultural facilities grants in 11 of Vermont’s 14 counties. In all, 76 grants totaling $438,370 are going to organizations and municipalities in four categories: cultural facilities, arts partnership, creation and project.

“The quality of the applications was exceptional,” said Michele Bailey, senior program director. “We were very impressed with the balance of creativity, innovation and professionalism demonstrated by the organizations and artists, as well as their deep ties to their communities.”

Barbara Farr, Waterbury’s long-term community recovery director, said the money could not have come at a more perfect time.

A municipal design working group recommended at a select board meeting Tuesday that town officials choose a geothermal heat pump system to heat and cool the complex. The group has worked with Efficiency Vermont for two months, Farr said.

What’s now the library at 28 N. Main St. will be completely renovated as a home for the Waterbury Historical Society, and a new library and municipal offices will be constructed next door.

The working group has been meeting for several months with Farr and project architects about what’s needed to make the new complex efficient and effectdive.

“The new system will be expensive and the $30,000 helps offset the total cost,” Farr said. The heat pump system would cost about $731,438 to install.

Farr said the money will ultimately help preserve municipal documents and ensure that historic preservation continues in an energy-efficient building.

“It’s quite an upgrade from the (the building’s) current status,” she said.

Farr said the select board is getting closer to choosing a construction manager for the municipal complex.

Environmental documentation — involving soil management, and solving problems with lead, asbestos and radon — needs a state review before an agreement can be signed for a $1 million community development block grant Waterbury has also been awarded for the municipal complex. That’s federal money that’s channeled through the state government.

Farr said about 4 cubic yards of soil with lead in it — half a dump truck-full — needs to be removed near the back of the library, along with small amounts of asbestos and lead from the building.

Once the $1 million agreement is signed, Farr said, the select board will be cleared to choose a construction manager. Three companies submitted bids for managing construction of the $4.95 million complex; that work at 28 N. Main St. will begin next April.

The firms — ReArch Co. of South Burlington, HP Cummings of Woodsville, N.H., and DEW Construction Corp. of Williston — submitted bids ranging from $311,875 to $361,615 for construction management services. A different set of bids will be sought for the actual construction work.

Architects are preparing to apply for state Act 250 permits and for local permits needed for construction.

The town is still looking for other grants, Farr said. It’s investigating the possibility of a historic preservation grant of up to $20,000 that could help pay for removal of the hazardous materials from the library property. The town would have to come up with matching money.

The town will also try again early next year to land a $100,000 grant; its application was rejected in April because a rescission vote had been sought on approval of a $2.95 million bond for the municipal complex, parking, lighting and landscaping.

“We will resubmit in February and cross our fingers for a successful outcome, now that the project is moving forward full steam,” Farr said.