City Hall to undergo a makeover
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. >> The lightning strike that hit Saratoga Springs City Hall building on August 17 seemed at first to be a disastrous occurrence.
A fire started in the attic in the Music Hall, with damage restricted to the south side of the building. Commissioner of Public Works Anthony Scirocco and Department of Public Works Manager Michael Veitch were on site that night, surveying the aftereffects once the fire department had the fire subdued.
“The water was pouring like a waterfall. There were heavy rains that night. It happened about 8 o’clock and we were there until 1 a.m. the next morning. The fire department told us it was strangely fortuitous that we had installed a catwalk months before it happened that turned out to provide easy access to firefighters who contained the fire,” said Sirocco.
The initial area impacted was not that large, but the hole created in the roof drainage pipe in the Music Hall is what created the larger issue. Ninetyfive percent of the damage was due to water that cascaded in.
Floor by floor, the water penetrated subflooring, carpet, and floor and ceiling tiles that have since been removed during demolition performed by Quick Response and MLB Construction Services.
Within two weeks, on September 2, city operations began the painstaking task of salvaging the contents of each office and relocating to the Saratoga Springs Recreation Center in order to maintain continuity of city services to residents. The DPW worked with the City IT Department to transition operations to the Recreational Center. “It took about 4-5
weeks total. Everything had to come over,” Veitch recalled.
He saw the lightning strike as a strangely mixed blessing. “For all the uprooting, this is a great opportunity to upgrade, restore and preserve the historic charm of this building,” he said.
Scirocco agrees. “We see the restoration as a chance to update the building to a more cost-effective, energy efficient version of itself,” he said.
Veith added that in 2014, with the onboarding of a second full-time judge, the city was required to provide adequate court space for both to hear cases. The renovations to City Hall will include those changes.
City operations will most likely be conducted from the Recreation Center for at least a year.
Architectural plans are underway for the restoration and renovations by CPL, headquartered in Rochester, NY.