County approves ad center contract
By Steve Herring
Published in News on December 19, 2014 1:46 PM
A $267,745 contract has been awarded to HH Architecture of Raleigh to draft the schematics for the county's proposed $12 million regional agriculture center.
Wayne County commissioners, who approved the contract Tuesday morning, also approved another $48,000 for additional services for a total contract of $315,745.
The county plans to use the design/build/bridge method, a variation of the design/build method, to construct the center.
The county used the design/build approach on the new Senior Center and on the Steele Memorial Library project in Mount Olive.
Design/build is a team approach that includes the architect/engineer and contractor working together on a project from design to construction.
Under the design/build/bridge method, the architect can only design up to 35 percent of the full design. In addition, HH Architecture will be responsible for setting forth the design criteria for the second stage, or the complete plans.
After the county raises the money for the project, it can request proposals from design/build firms to finish the final 65 percent of design including full drawings, specifications and a guaranteed fixed price to build the center.
Commissioners earlier this summer decided to go this route because they were told they needed the schematics, site plan drawings, elevations and floor plans in order to seek out state and federal grants as well as private donations.
The board agreed not to proceed to full design and construction until the necessary funding is raised or pledged.
The $48,000 for additional services includes $16,000 for renderings, which can be used to show potential contributors, $15,100 for HH Architecture to assist at fundraising meetings and $16,900 for a site master plan/grading plan.
Under the contract, HH Architecture will be held to a construction budget of $14,263,141 to comply with the design. However, no construction contras have been awarded and will not be until the plans are completed and commissioners hire a design/build team.
All of the documents created by HH Architecture will become the property of the county so that they can be used in the design/build phase.
The contract was negotiated by a working group that included County Manager George Wood, Commissioners Wayne Aycock, Bill Pate and Ray Mayo, and Kent Yelverton, director of the state Department of Agriculture Property Construction Division.
Pate is chairman of the commission's Agriculture Advisory Committee. Yelverton, a Wayne County native, is a member of the committee
The county wants to build the center on the former Cherry Hospital dairy property located across the Old Smithfield Road from O'Berry Center. The county has asked the state for the property and the project has been endorsed by state Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler.
However, the state has yet to act on the request.
The county in October 2013 earmarked $2 million for the center.
This past June, Sen. Louis Pate of Mount Olive and Sen. Don Davis of Snow Hill filed a bill seeking a $3 million state appropriation for the project.
The bill passed its first reading and was referred to the Agriculture/Environment/Natural Resources Committee, where it remained when the session ended in August.
As envisioned, the 56,565-square-foot, two-story center would house the Cooperative Extension Service, Cherry Farm administration, Center for Environmental Farming Systems, Farm Service Agency, Natural Resources Conservation Service and Wayne County Soil and Water.
It would include classrooms and an auditorium that could accommodate up to 378 people in banquet-style seating or 528 in auditorium-style seating.
The county would retain ownership and responsibility for future operational costs of the facility.