This is the drawing of the proposed addition to the Lutsen community center and fire hall presented to the Lutsen Town Board by Mark Pederson at the board’s November 15 meeting.
Mark Pedersen presented the Lutsen Town Board with drawings for an addition to the current fire hall and community center at the board’s November 15, 2011 meeting.
Pedersen, a Grand Marais native, owns and operates Pedersen Design & Consulting. He was hired to create the drawings for $7,500 at the township’s October meeting.
Pedersen was hired over two other bidders, Brunton Architects of St. Cloud which bid $37,760, and 5 Bugles Design, which bid 5% of the total building cost plus expenses. Although those firms both had expertise in designing fire halls, the township decided to go with Pedersen’s bid because the cost was so much lower, acknowledging that an architect would have to signoff on Pedersen’s design before construction began.
Pedersen’s proposal includes adding three more bays for trucks, a new compressor room, and a new 12’1” x 8’11” training tower. The addition would more than double space for firefighters and would give them room to conduct some of the much-needed and mandated ongoing training onsite, said Fire Chief Paul Goettl.
The new community center would sit in the back of the new fire hall separated by a wall. Under Pederson’s plans the new community center space would be would be 2½ times larger than the current community room and would include a kitchen, two bathrooms, an office, and a utility room.
“The current meeting room might become a training room,” said Pederson, “or whatever you want to name it or use it for,” he added.
When told by several board members that the drawings included everything they hoped to see, Pedersen said, “The design is based on the ideas I have received from you and the firefighters. I’ve tried to take those concepts and make them work for you. But there will be some changes. There always is. Someone will notice something that was missed or can be done better and we will adjust the plans accordingly.”
When asked about the cost of the addition, Pedersen said, “From all of the numbers I’ve looked at you will be right-tight to your budget.”
In August the board was looking at spending about $470,000 on the addition.
Goettl asked the board to approve Pederson’s preliminary plans so work could begin on a final draft. Goettl said he would like to see bids sent out to contractors by the end of the year “or the first part of next year” so they can be evaluated and a contractor selected. “We would like to see construction begin in the spring.” he added.
Pedersen said before construction plans and specifications were sent out as bid packages, “We first want to make the plans as accurate as possible. The more accurate the plans, the more accurate the bids will be. The looser the plans, the looser the bids will be. We want to avoid change orders. They add to the cost of building and we want to avoid them if at all possible.”
Supervisor Marland Hansen said, “These plans look good to me. It’s what we’ve been discussing for some time. What do you need from us?”
Pedersen said he and Goettl would get together and go over more detailed specifications for the building and he would work on a final drawing. After he completes the drawing(s) he will submit them to an architect for review and then, “I will take the final plans back to the board for final approval before we take it out to bid.”
With that the board gave Pedersen approval to work on a final draft, which he will try to complete by the township’s next meeting, Tuesday, December 20.
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