The public is welcome to attend the final presentation of the Hahnewald Barn design materials in Avon on Tuesday, Jan. 15.
The meeting is scheduled to start at 5 p.m. in Avon Town Hall, located at 100 Mikaela Way, and will be a joint meeting with the Avon Planning and Zoning Committee and the Avon Historic Preservation Advisory Committee.
Anderson Hallas Architects was hired by the town to present several alternatives on how to move the more than 100-year-old barn off the property of the Eagle River Water & Sanitation District, which needs it moved by June 1 to accommodate an expansion of the wastewater treatment facilities in that area.
Following Anderson Hallas Architects’ presentation, the committee will make a recommendation to the town council on which alternative they suggest. The Town Council is set to review the recommendation on January 22, 2019.
NARROWING IT DOWN
In a packet published on Jan. 11, the Planning and Zoning Commission was briefed on the most recent updates to the plans presented by Anderson Hallas Architects. The architects were hired by the town for about $120,000 and have been amending plans based on feedback from the committee and the community. Three plans were originally presented, ranging in cost from $5 million to $8 million, but two of those three plans originally presented have been not developed further based on feedback.
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This leaves Scheme B, which would place the barn in the location now occupied by the former town hall building, and would seek to preserve the barn in three phases. Phase one would be to simply move the barn off Eagle River Water & Sanitation District property and onto a new foundation, where it would not be used for anything excepted limited storage as it awaited phases two and three.
Phase two of Scheme B would equip the barn with public restrooms in a portion of the lower level only, and the upper level would not be usable except for limited storage. In phase two, the building’s exterior construction would be improved, as well, to protect the interior from weather.
Phase three of Scheme B would completely finish out the upper level of the barn and create event support spaces on the lower level.
“Understanding that the scope and objectives of a preservation project for the Hahnewald Barn may be evolving at the Council level, staff requests the Hahnewald Barn Subcommittee to provide a recommendation on Scheme B to the extent that Scheme B is an appropriate design and location for a re-use and rebuild project to create a multi-use community space,” Planning Director Matt Pielsticker wrote in the packet.
LEAST COST OPTION
A new lower cost preservation option has been prepared, as well, and will be presented at Tuesday’s meeting. This option wouldn’t require the demolition of the former town hall site, which is expected to cost roughly $600,000.
“The Hahnewald Barn Subcommittee should be aware that Council expressed consensus in considering a ‘least cost-preservation only’ option, which would involve simply moving the Hahnewald Barn to a location on Tract G and placing on a permanent foundation,” Pielsticker wrote in the packet. “This option would not involve any reuse or public access, it would be a least cost option move for the Hahnewald Barn to prevent demolition and preserve the structure ‘as is.’”
At this time, the cost estimates to simply move the barn structure and place on a permanent foundation is anticipated at $1,000,000, the committee was notified in the packet.
That plan, known as “Scheme D,” would require the demolition of a different town-owned building.
“This alternative demonstrates that the barn structure footprint can fit on the same location as the existing parks garage,” Pielsticker wrote. “However, staff believes this is not economically efficient or fiscally responsible because it would require demolishing a functional storage building with electrical, plumbing and heating improvements to replace it with a non-improved storage barn.”
