Construction begins on new Upper Dublin Township Building

If all goes according to plan, the ribbon will be cut on a new Upper Dublin Township building at the end of December 2025.

The 53,000-square-foot municipal building, an 11,000-square-foot addition to the public works building and emergency improvements already made to the public works facility come with a $52.2 million price tag.

Insurance, grants, investment interest and a $13.5 million bond, which will not require a tax increase, will bring in $49,458,194, according to Township Manager Kurt Ferguson, leaving a $2,741,806 shortfall.

“I believe we will be able to bridge that gap,” Ferguson said, noting the township has applied for a $2.17 million Pollution Reduction Grant and is anticipating a federal Inflation Reduction Act credit. “We will not have to raise taxes,” he said.

Tornado was just first disaster

A Sept. 1, 2021, EF-2 tornado and heavy rains associated with Hurricane Ida, which claimed the life of a township resident, resulted in millions of dollars in damage to more than 1,500 public, private and institutional properties, according to information on the township website. The Township Municipal Complex, comprising administrative offices, the police department and public works building, sustained extensive damage.

The 130 mph winds, windblown debris from surrounding structures and fallen trees left the township building with parts of the roof blown off, structural damage, damage to multiple building systems and extensive water damage.

Originally, the plan was to save half of the former township building and knock down the “unsavable” part, but on Dec. 25, 2022, “the sprinklers popped on in the part we wanted to save,” releasing 1,000 gallons of water per minute for approximately two hours, destroying that side of the building and rendering the entire structure a total loss, Ferguson said.

The public works garage, which sustained damage to part of the building, including offices and a locker room, was also “antiquated and didn’t function with the needs for a modern-day department,” he said. The bays inside were not tall enough for mechanics to be able to lift the vehicles, and parts of the building were not heated, he said.

The offices and locker room area were renovated under emergency provision and completed about two months ago, Ferguson said. Over the next 15 months, a five-bay addition will be constructed, and work will be done on open space areas with a June 2025 completion date, he said.

Solar heating and cooling

The new township building will use solar panels to power a geothermal heating and cooling system, Ferguson said.

“It will be an entirely contained system to generate power onsite to take care of the facility, which is unheard of for a [township] building, and will save $60,000 a year in utility costs,” he said.

The 41-person police department will be in 23,000 square feet on the ground floor with administrative and other department offices on the second floor, he said.

The new building will be about 5,000-square-feet smaller than the former facility, Ferguson said. Community rooms previously housed in the building will be set up in the current temporary police space at the township-owned 520 Virginia Drive, which houses the library, he said.

Construction bids approved

In January, the township board of commissioners approved construction bids totaling $38,164,832. Both the engineer for the project, D’Huy Engineering, and GKO Architects are each being paid about $1 million, Ferguson said.

About $14 million has been spent “on a variety of things” in the immediate aftermath of the tornado including the emergency repairs and improvements at the public works building, he said.

With the planned use of solar and geothermal energy for the new building the township has applied through the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission for a $2.17 million EPA Climate Pollution Reduction Grant, and should hear by the end of June, Ferguson said.

When the building is complete, the township will apply for the Inflation Reduction Act credit, he said. “I believe we’re good with that $1 million plus.”

Though the project will follow provisions of the green building LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating system, the township will not register for the designation, as “the cost is not worth getting that certification,” he said.

“It’s been an expedited process” for a situation entirely different from a traditional project, Ferguson said.

Township employees are in different temporary quarters and the police are operating out of the library building, “putting pressure on to get this township building back,” he said.

“It’s not ideal, we have insurance issues, we’re in a temporary building we’re paying rent on,” Ferguson said. “I believe we’ve had an open process and a great team.

“It’s a pace I haven’t had to go through before, but I’m really excited about where we are.”

This article appears courtesy of a content share agreement between Wissahickon Now and The Ambler Gazette. To read more stories like this, visit the Ambler Gazette.