Cohasset Town Hall Building Committee

12/02/2021

As we move through our plans to renovate the historic building in its entirety there are many individual pieces we have to consider. One of those is the windows. Right now we are exploring three options: (1) restoring those original windows that are able to be restored, and replacing those that cannot with new historic windows, (2) replacing all of the windows with new historic recreations, or (3) replacing all of the windows with more updated windows that have a slightly different aesthetic, while retaining the historic sashes. Some of the factors we are considering in this decision are: cost, aesthetics, historic authenticity, and energy efficiency. In all cases we will be following the Department of the Interior guidelines as we evaluate the options. Their guidelines can be found at:

Introduction to the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties.

09/22/2021

We have not posted an update in a while, but we wanted to let everyone know what we have been up to. The architects and engineers have taken the schematic plans shown at town meeting to a whole new level of detail so that we can get solid cost numbers to present to the town. The committee has been exploring temporary space options for town hall employees during the anticipated year-plus of construction. And, of late, we have been focusing much of our energy on closely investigating the benefits and costs of including geothermal energy in the overall project plan. We are considering both sustainability and economic factors, so that our final plan thoughtfully balances Cohasset’s clean energy goals and the citizens' desire to keep the project affordable. Stay tuned!

07/31/2021

Most of us think of Town Hall’s exterior as being white, however that is actually a relatively new color palette for the building. Please enjoy the paint analysis the town had done in 2017. It certainly reveals that Town Hall has had many color iterations over its life time. Feel free to leave a comment if you think any of these other color schemes are worth exploring, or if you think we should return it to the white we had for the later part of the 20th century.

07/01/2021

As you all know, we intend to restore the original building, including the stage, back to its former glory. Currently the Cohasset Drama Club productions and voting are some of the major uses of the space. As we design for Cohasset’s future we want to make sure this space reflects our history, but also is useful to our residents. We want to get feedback from the community about whether there is anything the residents of town would like to see this space made usable for that it is not at this time? Please leave us comments with your thoughts!

06/07/2021

Thank you very much to everybody who showed up to Town Meeting and supported the Town Hall project! After much discussion the majority of residents voted to pass our article, and send this project forward towards the creation of construction documents. We are very excited to bring the residents of Cohasset our final project proposal at the completion of this next phase. Thank you again for all of the support. We wish everyone in Cohasset a happy summer!

Residents breezed through the 28-article warrant Monday night, instituting new water and sewer rates, while giving final go-ahead to Town Hall project

05/12/2021

For our final post in this mini series we want to share some of the system issues that the existing annex building faces that need to be addressed. The HVAC is old and will need to be replaced, the electrical is past its prime and has become overly complex with the physical wiring taking up lots of space and being very confusing, the bathrooms are outdated and are no longer pleasant to be used, and last the network cables and routers have had so many add ons that the system has become over loaded and hard to use. As we reimagine town hall and consider what the future could bring, we will need to overcome these system issues, along with the space and structural issues from our prior posts to be successful. As a reminder we are hosting a public forum on Thursday, May 13th at 7:00 and we would love for everyone to come with any questions! The password is 02025 and the link is: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82392974447?pwd=SjZZc1d0M3hzcDlIaXJyQU1OZGlSdz09

05/08/2021

We are excited to announce that next Thursday May 13th, at 7:00 PM we are hosting a public forum to present our work this far and discuss any questions that community members may have. You can join our forum by using the following link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82392974447?pwd=SjZZc1d0M3hzcDlIaXJyQU1OZGlSdz09. We would like to get as many residents to show up as possible so please make sure to add it to your calendar if you are free! We posted a list of frequently asked questions and answers on our page on the town website: http://cohassetma.org/446/Cohasset-Town-Hall-Building-Committee. We hope to see you there, the password is 02025.

To view the most recent Agendas and Minutes of the Cohasset Town Hall Building Committee, please click on the link below:

05/04/2021

To follow up on our structural issues, we want to share some of the spacial issues that exist with the existing annex, including a lack of private meeting rooms, inefficient floor plan, and claustrophobic hallways. We feel these need to be addressed so that the citizens of the town can get the most out of this building and its staff. Unfortunately, another problem with the existing annex is that the walls inside hold up the structure, severely limiting our ability to move them to make the building more user-friendly and better suited to our needs.

04/26/2021

We are going to do a series of three posts to inform residents of the issues with the current annex. We have broken the issues into three categories: space, systems, and structure. Today we are going to share the structural challenges a new town hall project will have to address including photos of each. Some of these photos were taken before the current paint job and patch work, however, the issues seen in the photos still exist. Please check out the captions for the specific issues.

04/14/2021

We know that many people are interested in what the restored original building is going to look like. As the seat of our town government, it represents our values and identity as a community, as well as the heritage of our town which many treasure. We want to tell you about some aspects of the original building that we will be working to preserve or historically replace. Our program is looking into preserving or replacing the front and side facing facades, historic windows, performance stage, basement level dressing and prop rooms, hardwood floors, interior molding, ticket booth, exterior trim work, and roof line. In doing this, we hope to preserve a critical part of Cohasset's history. Along with restoring what was, we will be making some community upgrades we feel are important and will allow this section of the building to better serve the residents. Two important ones we want to highlight are: the addition of lavatories near the entrance and improved accessibility. The additional rest rooms can be made available to the public for farmers markets, the arts festival, events in town hall, etc. In addition, we will make changes to the grade so that a sidewalk can run up to the main entrance of the building, allowing all of our residents to access town hall through the front door, regardless of their mobility status. We will also be adding an up to code stairwell in the entrance vestibule of the original building so that the upstairs will be more easily accessible from the ground level. These are some of the highlights of our upgrades to original building. Please feel free to let us know if there are other parts of this structure you would like to see preserved.

04/04/2021

We know one big question about our project is: What is this new building going to look like? And how is it going to layout? Today we want to give you an idea of what we are thinking. Please know that these designs are still subject to changes, however this is the concept we will be presenting at Town Meeting. We want to hear your feedback now, so that we can make sure we get this building right and Cohasset can use it for generations to come.

03/27/2021

Our vision for the project is a town hall that blends the new and the old, both spatially and architecturally for timeless appeal and use. We believe the best way to achieve this is to remove the existing annex to the historic building and replace it with an addition that is efficiently planned and architecturally fitting with the Common.

The historic town hall and annex require significant restoration and repair including new roofs, HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and fire suppression systems. In addition, the annex building has significant rot due to water damage, is not ADA compliant for mobility impaired residents, and does not have adequate restroom, office, or meeting space. The existing building is also difficult to navigate with its choppy layout, and the annex is not in keeping with the rest of the architecture on the Common.

At a minimum, the town will have to invest significant resources into renovating and repairing the existing building. While a renovation can bring the building up to code, it cannot fix the lack of adequate space, the choppy layout or the outside aesthetic which clashes with the Common architecture. We believe our best option is a new, well constructed annex that will match the Common on the outside, have adequate facilities on the inside, and be flexible for rearrangement in the future as the needs of the town change.