New Borough Hall Causes Heated Discussion

Tuesday’s Phoenixville Borough Council meeting was punctuated by some serious discussion on the design of the new borough hall at 351 Bridge Street.

The subject was opened for debate because council needed to act to approve or deny the building’s Historical and Architectural Review Board (HARB) application. The issues also came up during committee reports, where it was mentioned during the infrastructure committee report.

The primary concern seemed to be accessibility for disabled people as well as for residents who need to pay sewer, water or tax bills.

The motion before council was to hold a public meeting and open house, with renderings of the new building, in order to further discuss the project. 

Council president Richard Kirkner and Council member Dana Dugan both expressed dismay at the distance from the front door of the public handicapped spaces.

“I’m not sure why council has to be on third floor and why the handicapped spaces are half a block away, not all handicapped people are in wheelchairs. What about bill payments for elderly people?” Dugan said.

Kirkner had similar feelings on the handicapped parking space and added concerns about the building layout.

“This building has to last a lot longer than this [current] building did,” Kirkner said. “If people aren’t happy you’ll be hearing about it for years.”

Council Vice President Michael Speck disagreed that there are issues with the layout.

“It’s not perfect, but we meet accessibility standards,” Speck said. “If we don’t go by the plan it’ll cost us tens of thousands of dollars.”

Council member Jennifer Mayo agreed with Speck’s assessment. “We had a public meeting, and very few people showed up,” she said. “It’s been through several committees, and I don’t think it’s advantageous to delay any further.”

Mayo gave an example of the layout of West Chester’s borough building. “You have to go up or down stairs to get to the offices, and not only that you have to cross a very busy street just to get there,” she said.

“With all due respect, this isn’t West Chester,” Dugan countered. 

In regards to the building layout, Kirkner said, "I do not think the side of the building coming in on 113 gives a welcoming impression. The first view of the building is a brick wall with no windows."

Borough manager Jean Krack said that in the most recent plan, that side of the building now has two windows.

Other council members questioned the need for the police department to occupy the first floor by themselves.

Chief William Mossman said the planned layout is the most efficient for the department's needs.

"Having detectives or administration on the second floor would require a lot of running back and forth or calling each other on the phone," Mossman said. 

Krack said something similar when questioned about the location of the administration's offices. 

"The interior is built on workflow, and to have people on different floors is wrong. This was built around working as a team," Krack said.

Krack expressed concern that the council had set a finite budget amount for the building and that six thousand square feet had already been cut from the plans in order to stay within that budget.

"If we change anything, it will be several hundred thousand dollars [in cost]," Krack said.

"Spending a couple of thousand bucks now doesn't concern me, this is a $5 million building. I'd rather have a building that is functional and accessible and one that the public embraces," Kirkner commented. "A public building has to have a very long life."

Krack also said that holding another public meeting would push back the schedule of the building by a few weeks, prompting Councilman Christopher Bauers to ask how that might affect the rest of the schedule.

"Every week we push cuts into the timeline," Krack said. The hope is that the building will be enclosed by December, where work could continue despite winter weather.

When the motion to hold another meeting came up for a vote, it failed 3 to 5, with Kirkner, Bauers and Dugan voting yea and Kovaleski, Gautreau, Speck, Guie, and Mayo voting nay.