(4/5) With a new police station slated
to be opened this year, the Thurmont Town
Commissioners are now looking into building a
new public works building.
A building committee has been meeting for
the past few months to discuss and make
recommendations to the commissioners on where
a public works building should be located and
how large it should be.
Don Tyler, a member of the building
committee, said the committee had chosen a
site on Moser Road next to the town
substation. It is property currently owned by
the town and would also be able to accommodate
a building for a power generator if the
commissioners decide to build a town power
plant.
Tyler said the committee was now
recommending that the commissioners hire a
contractor to do soil borings.
“The bore samplings are going to tell you
how much it’s going to cost you not if (you
can build there),” said Commissioner Glenn
Muth.
The proposed public works building would
have about 13,500 square feet of space. Of
that, about 11,000 would be equipment bays
with doors on either end of the building to
allow equipment to drive through. The
remaining 2,500 square feet would be office
space for public works branch heads.
“The type of building you need is almost a
shell type of building,” Tyler said.
Mayor Martin Burns asked that the committee
meet with the branch heads to make sure the
building design will meet their needs.
Commissioner Bill Blakeslee also reminded
everyone that NuTec Design, the company
building the new police station, offered the
town a free brainstorming session to talk
about the public works building.
“It’s not going to cost anything to talk to
them so I’d talk to them first,” Tyler said.
There is no planned start date for the new
building as of yet.