LaBella architects present concepts for brand new Pine Plains Town Hall

PINE PLAINS — Representatives of LaBella Associates presented conceptual drawings of the new Pine Plains Town Hall at a regular meeting of the Town Board on Thursday, Oct. 16.

Eastern region Vice President Pasquale Marchese led the presentation, showing drawings of the proposed floorplan and a sketch of the exterior of the building under current concepts.

The drawings represent early concepts for the brand new building that will occupy a space on North Main Street behind the Bank of Millbrook close to the center of downtown Pine Plains, Marchese said.

LaBella’s conceptual proposal entails a single-story building with a basement for additional storage space. Each department of the town government will have an office in a horseshoe-like configuration wrapping around a large room in the center of the building that will double as a courtroom and board meeting room.

The building and zoning departments will be clustered in a corner of a building with a dedicated entrance to shorten the distance people will have to walk to do business with those departments.

The current design has an area of 6,000 square feet, significantly larger than the current Town Hall building with 2,468 square feet of floor area.

The current Town Hall building, located at 3284 Route 199, was built in 1970 and houses the town’s government — including the courthouse and the police department.

“The town is looking to grow,” Marchese said. “Every department has needs, but we don’t want to have a 10,000 square foot building.” The new designs, Marchese said, should be big enough to facilitate every department’s current needs and comfortably accept expansion without hitting the town’s coffers too hard.

Town Board members received the concepts positively, saying the design appears to fit in well with the character of the town and praising the chosen site.

“It definitely looks like it fits in,” Town Supervisor Brian Walsh said.

In other business, the Town Board approved a resolution to exceed the state-mandated tax cap, allowing the board to increase tax revenues more than 2% from last year as a precautionary measure during budget talks.

“We’re not actually going over the tax cap,” board member Matt Zick said. “We’re at 2% right now but this gives usthe fluctuation to play with the budget. We don’t plan on going over.”

The vote is seen as a regular formality in towns across northeast Dutchess County during budget season. The Town of North East passed a similar resolution, citing concerns over rising EMS costs that require the town to exceed the tax cap so other essential services can continue.

A public hearing on the resolution is scheduled for the next town board meeting on Thursday, Nov. 6, at 6 p.m.

That same meeting will also feature a public hearing on the town’s preliminary budget, available to view online at pineplains-ny.gov