Boone County is seeking a new parks department facility, and Hub+Weber Architects have been chosen to lead the project’s design team.
The firm was given the green light to proceed with the design process during Tuesday’s Boone County Fiscal Court meeting.
“We moved into a schematic design phase where we developed concept plans of the new facility – meeting the needs, outlining the programming phase,” Hub+Weber Senior Architect Michael Wolff said. “We also worked through a site plan on the former animal shelter site and looked at exterior visioning for the project.”
The facility’s end goal would be to house staff, programming and equipment storage in one central location.
The initial steps involved meeting with the parks department and county staff as a means of gathering data about how personnel conducts their work, current space and what they need, Wolff said.
“The next step would be to move into the design/development phase, where we take the concept design we presented and develop that in a more technical manner – adding detail to the drawings,” Wolff said.
The goal at the end of design/development is to have a well developed technical set of architectural documents defining a more realistic budget, Wolff said.
Lack of available square footage, public access, disabled access and staff support space have spurred the need to plan for a new venue.
Beyond the design/development phase would be the construction document phase, Wolf said, which would include a thorough description of how the building would be assembled across all phases – architectural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, engineering, fire protection and structural design.
All project costs are in the approved spending plan, Boone County Administrator Matthew Webster said.
“Everything was included in our capital budget presentation and has been included in the fiscal year budget,” Webster said. “No additional costs. Nothing coming out of reserves here.”
The metal building concept slated for the project prompted hesitance from District 1 Commissioner Cathy Flaig.
“I have real concerns,” Flaig said. “I’ve seen too many buildings – they get hit and it’s hard to fix a metal building when it’s been hit.”
There will be an opportunity to engage with the Court and staff to examine alternatives during the design phase, Webster said.
The anticipated project completion date is late 2025, officials said.