Resident urges soils borings, geotech studies before Germantown police station design

Melanie Smythe addressed the committee during the citizen input period and urged that soils borings and geotechnical studies be completed before the architect begins detailed design for the proposed police facility to avoid unanticipated costs from rock and blasting.

"I am suggesting that before the design begins, just to be sure that we know what we're getting into, that some soils borings and geotech studies, borings are done out at the site," Smythe said, adding that the existing police building could be tested as well so the committee could rule out reuse or other site constraints.

Smythe noted potential added costs and suggested staff look for grant opportunities — for example, stormwater-related grants — to help offset taxpayer expense.

A participant who responded during the public-comment exchange said the usual industry practice is to perform borings after schematic design so engineers can determine footing locations and place borings appropriately. The participant said doing borings before a plan exists risks sampling the wrong locations: "We don't do soil borings until we have a design because the engineers need to know where the footings are gonna go," they said.

The exchange did not produce a committee directive to require pre-design borings; trustees and staff continued into the agenda item on awarding architectural services.