RYE — Residents could be conducting their town business through a drive-through in the near future, if the warrant article to purchase TD Bank’s former 500 Washington St. building as an annex to the Town Hall passes town vote.
The current Town Hall building is 178 years old and approximately 6,600 square ft. It houses 10 full-time and part-time employees, as well as volunteers and various committees that meet there regularly.
“Every ounce of space we have has been taken up by either files, records or people,” said Town Administrator Michael Magnant.
Magnant said the TD Bank building, at approximately 2,255 square feet, is in good shape. It has countertops and bathrooms compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act standards, and could potentially house the tax clerk and assessing department. The town could also utilize the bank’s safes for the town’s records.
TD Bank closed the office in December, according to the town, and the property's assessed value is $517,000. There is a deed restriction on the parcel stating if the building is used for commercial purposes, it can only be used as a bank and government uses are not considered a commercial use, according to the town.
The warrant article sets a $540,800 purchase price and an additional $84,000 for related purchase costs, such as funds needed for the closing and inspection, as well as first -year operating budget and potential renovation expenditures. The gross budget of $624,800 would raise the tax rate to 25 cents per $1,000 of property for the first year only. The article proposes an outright purchase so there wouldn't be additional tax increases after that year. A majority vote is required to pass this article.
“It has a drive-up window that the public could use to conduct their business,” said Magnant, who added both the Hampton and Somersworth town halls are in former bank buildings.
“Most people think that would be really neat for older people, but it’s really even more important for young families,” said Selectman Phil Winslow. “You know, a mother comes in, she’s got one child in a stroller, one child in a baby seat. She doesn’t have to bother to take them out and bring them into the Town Hall to pay her taxes or get her car registered. She pulls up to the window and it’s done. In addition to people who are disabled or people who are getting along in age and don’t want to get out of the car. It’s a great service for the town residents.”
To defray some of the costs of buying the bank property, Winslow said the Board of Selectmen is including an additional warrant article proposing to sell the property known as the Trolley Barn or old police station and use some of the funds.
The town has been weighing in on Town Hall renovation and addition possibilities for the last seven years. “Since I started here,” Magnant said.
In 2012, a few citizens formed a committee and selected an architect for a potential renovation. In 2013, voters approved $60,000 to develop two schematic designs to refurbish the current building and make it wheel-chair accessible. The town approved another $250,000 in 2014 for the final stages of design and preparation of construction documents, but the article to fund the renovations at an estimated $4.1 million failed to pass.
The 2017 ballot had five warrant article alternatives for Town Hall but Magnant and the selectmen said they think they confused voters with all the options. There was an article to renovate the Town Hall with attention to historic features for $3.2 million and another option to rebuild the building with a similar design for $3,386,000. Both failed. The article asking to move forward with the option that gained the most votes also failed, as did the one to refurbish the exterior of Town Hall and make it handicap accessible for $500,000. The only article that passed was for engineer John Loftus, a town resident, to design a new town hall at no cost to residents.
There will be a competing petition warrant article on this year’s ballot. After voters approved the free design last year, 43 residents submitted a petition article seeking to raise $3,048,077 gross budget to pursue the design for a new Town Hall as developed by Loftus and architect Robert A. Schaefer of R.A. Schaefer & D, M, White Architects. A 60 percent approval is required from voters.
Resident Peter Crawford spoke at Monday’s Board of Selectmen. “My views of tearing the current Town Hall down have not changed. I don’t believe it’s a good idea,” he said.
Crawford said he was behind last year’s petition warrant article to spend $500,000 to renovate the current Town Hall and make it ADA compliant. He said his impression from the public meetings was that the Lotkus article was going to be estimated at closer to $2 million.
“I think we have a number of options that would be much less expensive for the town than tearing this building down and rebuilding it,” Crawford said.
Magnant calls the TD Bank option fortuitous. “I think the town’s really being presented with an opportunity here," he said. "Ideally, it would be great to keep all the town staff together. They work well together, they complement each other, they fill in for each other, but this is a great opportunity for the town."
“It would be a very cost-effective way of providing service to the residents,” added Winslow.
The town will hold a deliberative session Feb. 3 at 9 a.m. at the junior high school before the March vote.