Situated at the top of the hill on Stage Road, the Pomfret Town Hall is a magnificent and historic building, but according to officials, it is in need of upgrades and repairs to better serve the community. To accomplish this, residents formed a committee to begin scoping out the renovation, and they presented their initial ideas at Pomfret’s first annual Summer Sendoff party last Sunday.
The Town Hall Revitalization Committee, which consists of Meg Emmons, Dana Kaye, Gennie Lawrence, Marie Cross, Katie Brickner, and John Moore, began their effort by asking townspeople to fill out a survey. The form was available online, at two Town Hall Coffee Chats hosted at Abracadabra Coffee Co. and Teago General Store, and at the Town Offices. Altogether, 91 surveys were submitted. New residents, as well as lifelong members of the community, participated. Of those, 75 of the respondents had attended previous events at the Town Hall, including Community Suppers (Harvest Supper, Strawberry Supper, and Empty Bowls) and Town Meeting.
Emmons said that the renovation idea received a crucial push when “we were awarded a Municipal Energy Resilience Program Mini grant. It was a three-part grant series — the first was the mini grant, which was $4,000 to complete an ADA assessment because the building is so far out of date. That’s the first priority. We had an architect draw up the existing building, and he’s drawing plans that would include ADA compliance. While we’re at it, the building needs so much more work that we are looking at the kitchen, improving functionality, and we’re getting a lot of input from townspeople on what they would like to see the building used as.” The last major upgrades to the building were done on the windows and roof two decades ago.
The committee has already broken the renovation plans into two primary options. “Option 1 is a little smaller,” says committee member Dana Kaye. “There is an entrance for the bathrooms on the right and the left of the stage. Then there would be a separate hallway to go into the kitchen and a hallway to go outside for a second fire escape.” This plan would provide 1,000 sq. ft. of space on the main floor and 1,000 sq. ft. in the basement. “Whereas, option 2 is bigger,” Kaye continues. “It includes a second level, which would be used as a storage area. Then, the bathrooms would be accessed on the left-hand side of the stage. You would go down a hall, and you could get into the kitchen that way.” Per this design, the main floor and basement would have 1,245 sq. ft. of space with the additional 640 sq. ft. upstairs.
Weatherization upgrades are also on the table. Currently, the pipes need to be turned off before water freezes.
Since the renovation planning is in its early phase, there is no start date for the construction and no cost projection. “We don’t have any prices attached to either [option] right now because we are just in the gathering feedback stage,” Kaye specifies. “We could get a price now, but that doesn’t mean that when we’re ready to start, it will be anywhere close.”
For more on this, please see our September 4 edition of the Vermont Standard.
