WILLIAMSBURG – Town residents will vote Monday on whether or not to approve a new multi-million dollar public safety complex and the demolition of the Helen E. James School.
The vote on Proposition 2½ debt-exclusion override will take place from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Town Offices at 141 Main Street, although voters can also cast mail-in ballots as well.
The vote comes after a special Town Meeting on April 3 authorized spending $5.1 million for the project by a vote of 259 to 48.
“It was a very very clear message that the town does support this,” said William Sayre, chairman of the Williamsburg Select Board.
Sayre said the Select Board supports the proposal on the ballot, and that while losing the school would be a shame, “We do not have any other options at this point.”
The proposal comes after years of study by the town. The Owner’s Project Manager Steering Committee, which was formed in 2017 to examine sites and the size of a new public safety complex, commissioned the architecture firm Juster Pope Frazier to look at options for constructing the complex on the Helen E. James School property. The firm estimated that incorporating the school into the complex would cost $7.5 million, while doing repairs to the school and building a complex on the site was estimated to cost $6.7 million. A third option, demolishing the school and building the complex, was estimated to cost $5.1 million.
The last option was ultimately the one selected by the Owner’s Project Manager Steering Committee, and the article that passed at Town Meeting was based on that option.
The article authorizes the town to transfer $1 million of savings and to borrow $4.1 million for the project. However, in order for the article to go into force, borrowing for the project must be approved by voters on Monday.
“We’re feeling positive about the outcome,” said Jim Ayres, chairman of the Owner’s Project Manager Steering Committee. “We do want to make sure that there’s a good turnout for the vote.”
Ayres noted that while the article did pass overwhelmingly, the committee doesn’t want people to take that for granted and not vote on Monday.
“We’re encouraging people to come out and vote, regardless of what their position is,” he said.
Bera Dunau can be reached at bdunau@gazettenet.com.