Tight squeeze
Ag center to be renovated to relieve space issues
Changes are coming to the Berks County Agricultural Center.
The nearly 50-year-old facility will undergo an extensive renovation to provide more breathing room for some of organizations that call it home but have outgrown the building.
The Bern Township center has housed several county and federal agencies since it was first built by the county in 1975 along County Welfare Road. But the two-story, steel-framed structure is no longer spacious enough for three of those tenants.
The Berks County Conservation District and two U.S. Department of Agriculture programs — the Farm Service Agency and the Natural Resources Conservation Service — have been calling on the county to address the tight squeeze.
The county commissioners have had numerous conversations with the organizations about the need for more space over the last several years but have never decided on a way to address it.
That all changed Tuesday morning, Aug. 10.
The commissioners unanimously voted at their operations meeting to move forward with plans to perform an extensive renovation of the building.
“It’s not a question of if we’re going to do something,” commissioners Chairman Christian Y. Leinbach said. “We have decided that we have to do something because we cannot ignore this situation.”
The nuts and bolts
The decision to move forward with the renovation plan was made after the commissioners viewed a presentation by Scott Graham of Muhlenberg Greene Architects that summarized two potential options for the board: renovate the facility or build a new structure.
Building a new structure for the three organizations is a suggestion that Berks County Conservation District officials have previously floated. They even had a 20,000-square-foot building designed by an architectural firm.
Graham said bringing that design to life would cost about $7.2 million. But he noted the estimate does not include the cost to develop the land, which could potentially add a few million more to the price.
He then outlined the renovations needed to bring the existing facility into compliance with the needs of the three organizations.
The biggest changes to the building would include expanding the footprint of the two federal agencies on the second floor and converting the current warehouse into office space for the conservation district.
Graham said the county forensic services unit would remain housed in the basement and the Berks County Penn State Extension would stay on the first floor of the building. The Berks County Department of Agriculture could have its own office space in the warehouse or occupy space on the second floor — both options would increase its current workspace.
In addition to the renovations to reconfigure the building, Graham said a number of other improvements would be made like making the restrooms ADA compliant, installing more energy-efficient windows and giving the exterior a facelift.
There would also be additional space that could be rented to other organizations in need of a home.
Graham said the renovations to the existing building would cost about $8.7 million to complete and could be done in a more timely fashion than constructing a building.
“Construction delays are a very serious reality right now, especially for major building components like steel,” he said. “And the bones of the existing facility are excellent despite the building being nearly 50 years old.”
Graham did, however, state that the timeline for the plan will depend on the county moving its voting equipment out of the warehouse.
Commissioner Kevin S. Barnhardt assured the board that the renovation could begin soon. He said the county has found a possible climate-controlled building that will provide more space and more protection for the devices.
The county election board had previously discussed building its own structure to house the devices, but Barnhardt said it became clear that it would take too long to construct a new facility.
‘Renovation is better’
Kevin McGee, an outside financial consultant who was hired by the county to make a recommendation about which option makes the most sense fiscally, told the commissioners that they are better off renovating.
“As far as I can tell, purely from a cost point of view, it seems to me that the numbers bare out that the renovation is a better investment for the county,” he said. “I think it will yield you more for generally less money.”
He added that the renovation could be done in a much more timely fashion, noting that site development for any new construction is going to impact the overall delivery of the project.
The commissioners agreed with his analysis.
Leinbach said the renovation is the right way to go.
“In my mind, the dollars and cents are pretty clear,” he said. “I can’t justify getting rid of a building that is structurally sound and spending the same or more money to build a building that has about a third of the office space available.”
Commissioner Michael Rivera said the cost of renovating the center will most likely be cheaper when they take into account the price to develop a site for a new building. He also said he was swayed by the faster timeline associated with the renovation.
“I think moving forward with the renovations would be the best bet for us,” he said.
Barnhardt said the proposed renovations are long overdue.
“We definitely need to move forward,” he said.
Conservation district
He said the conservation district must decide soon if these plans meet the requirements that they had laid out and if they intend to remain a tenant.
“We need to get an agreement in place and get this done,” Barnhardt said.
At its July 28 board meeting, the conservation district board authorized its building committee to begin an official search for existing office space to lease, an existing building to buy or land to buy within 10 miles of the agricultural center.
The board committed to making a decision by Dec. 22.
The conservation district leases about 2,000 square feet of space in the ag center.
The offices house 17 employees plus meeting and storage space, said executive Dean Druckenmiller.
He said he needs to hire six erosion and sediment control specialists to help handle the increased work but has no where to put them. The district reviews Berks plans for the state Department of Environmental Protection.
Druckenmiller is worried the space limitation puts the district in danger of violating its agreement with the state because he can’t hire more workers to get the job done.
At the operations meeting Tuesday, Druckenmiller said he was very pleased the board is considering making the necessary renovations to the building and said he will take the plan back to the building committee for more discussion.
Leinbach said he’s confident the county and the conservation district can agree on the terms of a new lease.
“We’re not interested in making more money off of the conservation district,” he said. “We’re interested in a continued partnership. I believe that we can put something together that the conservation district will find reasonable.”