Town Hall Floor Plan

Bruce Tuthill brought copies of the floor plans to the Lyme Town Campus Center Planning Committee Meeting on December 2. The plan for the Town Hall is shown below, and the library plan will be included in the next post.

For a PDF of both drawings, send an email request to lymetowncampus@gmail.com.

While he will be making a more detailed report at the January 6 meeting, Bruce presented some preliminary findings on the two buildings.

Anyone who has visited the Town Hall would be aware of the lack of office and storage space, but Bruce pointed out that the town records vault, the safe-like area in Ruth's office, is undersized.  The State of Connecticut recommends a vault of 300 - 400 square feet for a town the size of Lyme.  The present vault is only 100 square feet.

Finally, the current building is not ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant.

Taking Measure

 

Because the town has two existing buildings, the first step in the design process is to conduct a full assessment of the current Town Hall and Library.

Here Bruce Tuthill is taking advantage of a Monday morning when the library is closed to take photos, to measure both the interior and exterior of the building, and to draw a current floor plan.  His partner, Peter Wells, is next door doing the same at the Town Hall.

 

The tools are simple:  a point-and-shoot digital camera, a tape measure, a calculator and a yellow legal pad.  Bruce and Peter are looking at the condition of the buildings, their size and layout and how they are being used.  Later, their engineer will look at the buildings’ structures and physical plants.

In addition, the two architects interviewed the employees who work at Town Hall, and the Library Director and President of the Library Board of Trustees.  By speaking to those who spend their working hours in the two buildings, Bruce and Peter will better understand what works, what doesn’t work, and what people might need to do their jobs better.

The Lyme Public Hall is also interested in housing their local history archives in an expanded library, so Bruce interviewed their archivist, Carolyn Bacdayan, and assessed their holdings.

From the Ground Up

The idea of expanding either the town hall or library or both has been knocking around for a couple of years, but the existing site wouldn't allow it.  In 2009 the town was able make an exchange with the Nature Conservancy for a 1.4 acre parcel next to the library.  The transaction was approved at the Lyme Annual Town Meeting on May 22, 2009.  Here is a picture of the survey.  Route 156 runs along the bottom of the drawing.  The survey is also available on the town web site as a PDF which will allow you to zoom in and print a copy.

The property deeded to the Nature Conservancy is shown shaded and borders the Eight Mile River which has been designated as a Wild and Scenic River.  The town now owns the piece of land north of the library with frontage on Route 156.  It's an odd shaped lot, but it allows room for expansion.