Mills River council reviews $2.75 million concept for new parks maintenance facility

Designers and town staff on Monday walked Mills River Town Council through schematic plans for a new parks maintenance facility, part of the Miller Park expansion master plan, and outlined next steps for cost estimation and procurement.

The town’s staff said the facility is intended to reflect a needs assessment completed this year, allow fiscally responsible expansions over time, and comply with the Unified Development Ordinance standards council will consider in June. “We had three major design goals… provide a fiscally responsible framework to expand the facility as the community needs,” a staff speaker said while introducing the schematic renderings.

Presenters from WGLA Engineering and the design team described a single‑story building roughly 60 by 100 feet (about 6,500 square feet) with multiple garage bays, a dedicated chemical storage room, showers, and a multi‑purpose break/training room. Engineers said they expect to raise and rework poor subsurface soils, bringing fill and performing undercut and replacement of existing materials to meet flood‑elevation and structural needs. “There’s a lot of dirt improvement that’s going to have to be necessary for that site,” an engineer said.

Staff shared preliminary cost projections—“about that around $2.75 million” for construction with roughly $300,000 in professional services—but emphasized the numbers are early estimates, not bids. Those figures and related contingencies are included in preliminary FY28–FY29 budget planning.

On procurement, staff recommended a construction‑manager‑at‑risk (CMAR) approach (also referred to in the presentation as the Seymour/GMP process) for a project of this scale. Under that approach the town would select a qualified construction manager during preconstruction, obtain a guaranteed maximum price and then proceed with trade bidding under the manager’s GMP to limit later cost overruns. “For a project that’s over three million… that provides greater transparency on the front end,” a staff member said explaining the rationale.

Councilors asked about building materials, siding choices and landscaping costs, about heating and ventilating vehicle bays and whether office space should be horizontal expansion or vertical. Designers said using fiber‑cement siding and a metal roof or a board‑and‑batten look can meet local design preferences without the premium of some alternatives, and that landscaped screening might add approximately $20,000, depending on final choices.

The council recorded a consensus to forward the schematic concept and materials to the Parks, Trails and Recreation Advisory Committee for review at its June 30 meeting and to return to council after the advisory committee comments. Staff said final project timing will align with CIP and budget decisions and that additional site engineering and updated cost estimating would follow the advisory review.

Next steps: advisory committee review (June 30), refinements to the schematic and geotechnical work, more detailed cost estimating, and council consideration later this summer for formal concept approval and a procurement method if the project advances.