Committee Listens to Town Hall Expansion Proposals

DEEP RIVER – Proposals to expand the 1892 town hall would create a larger vault and more office space.

Richard King, chairman of the town hall expansion committee, said an expansion is needed because the 390 square foot vault in the town clerk’s office housing land records, probate court records, and historical Old Saybrook documents before 1948 does not meet state guidelines.

Town clerk Jeanne Nickse said a basement vault, approximately half the size of the first floor vault, houses overflow and secondary documents with its own entrance in the basement.

Eunice DiBella, Connecticut Public Records Administrator, said vault space guidelines based on the town’s population and because it houses probate court records, the vault should be between 550 and 750 square feet.

Nickse said the space in the vault is cramped and soon there will be no to add new records.

“Expanding the vault in the middle of the building is not easy to do,” Nickse said, prompting the town hall expansion proposal.

The Office of the Connecticut Public Records Administrator requires town clerk’s offices to be located near the vault.

Nickse would like to see a multi-level vault in the addition with an entrance on each floor eliminating the need for a stairwell inside the vault.

Selectman Richard Foust said surveys were handed out to all town hall offices to find out whether they needed more space, leading the town hall expansion committee to hire architect Angela D. Cahill to study the programmatic needs of town hall and report back for a June 8 meeting.

Cahill, who works for Shoenhardt, gave proposals to expand the present 12,530 square-foot town hall by either 7,060 square feet or 10,250 square feet.

The committee originally asked Cahill to study a proposed 8,000 square foot addition.

Under the smaller expansion option, preliminary plans show office space would increase by 4,682 square feet.

The first floor would have an additional 3,228 square feet divided into three offices of 598, 603, and 1,087 square feet.