The Warren Select Board and its Town Garage Planning Committee are fine-tuning a request for proposals for a new town garage on Vaughn Brown Road. The subcommittee met last week on August 8, 2024.

At this meeting, select board and committee members worked to finalize the RFP, which they hope to release next week. The goal is to have an engineering/architectural firm on board by October so the project can be presented to voters at the town meeting next March.

Currently, the garage is expected to be approximately 12,000 square feet and have five 24-foot-wide parking spaces. The work committee has several key criteria for the project, including addressing neighbors’ noise concerns, building an energy-efficient structure using sustainable construction and design practices, using solar energy for heat, power and hot water, and seamlessly integrating the building into the landscape.

Other criteria include working with VTrans to improve traffic safety and traffic on and around the site, particularly at the intersection of Vaughn Brown Road and Route 100, as well as demolishing the former garage on School Road and “regreening” the site as needed. The city has deemed the current garage location suitable for village development.

At last week’s meeting, board and committee members discussed the process and some logistical details of the building with the city’s street engineer, Andrew Bombard. Bombard suggested that much of the building should have 20-foot ceiling heights and that the office area could have 10-foot ceiling heights with storage areas above. The project will require about 16 parking spaces, a backup generator or possible Powerwall option, and the ability to store materials for the city’s street construction.

Material storage requirements include:

• 5,000 meters of sand.
• 300-400 yards of salt.
• 3,000–6,000 yards of gravel.
• About 2,300 meters of stone.
• Pass-through storage.
• Concrete blocks.
• 1500-2000 gallon diesel fuel tank.
• Concrete blocks for culvert heads.
• 1500-2000 gallon diesel fuel tank.
• Ground asphalt pile.

None of these details are set in stone yet. Once the city hires an engineering/architectural firm, an iterative process will begin leading to the final design. Select panel members are confident the process will result in a final design proposal that can be included in next year’s city report so voters have the information they need to pass a bond at the city meeting.