Architect tells Shelbyville council city buildings need repairs; presents schematic options for new police and fire headquarters
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Summary
Architect Ginger Branch presented a completed facilities study of City Hall, Fire Station 2 and Public Works, outlined prioritized repair budgets and ADA deficiencies, and previewed schematic plans and property options for a combined police and Fire Station 1; estimated schematic-level cost for police and fire concepts was roughly $25 million.
Ginger Branch, an architect with TLM Associates, told the City of Shelbyville mayor and council April 29 that a completed facilities study of City Hall, Fire Station 2 and the Public Works compound found significant masonry, roofing, ADA and security problems and recommended phased repairs and prioritized budgets.
Branch said the study — delivered as a written report and a folder with slide notes — focused on building envelope items (masonry, roof terminations, exterior doors/windows), interior conditions (security and ADA access), and site drainage. Branch told the council that City Hall and Fire Station 2 have single-pane windows, masonry cracking at corners, gutter and roof-term issues that allow water intrusion, and interior spaces that do not meet ADA standards. She said the meeting-room access in City Hall includes a dead-end hallway and the building is not sprinklered.
The findings matter because water intrusion and missing control joints in brick veneer accelerate deterioration. “Brick veneer acts very similar to a pothole,” Branch said, and freeze–thaw cycles can create voids that lead to failure. She recommended prioritized, phased work to stop recurring maintenance costs — putting roof and exterior envelope work ahead of interior finish upgrades.
Branch also walked council members through the Public Works site, describing multiple aging concrete-block structures with widespread cracking and long-term drainage problems and noting the site felt “very cramped” for heavy equipment and materials storage. For Fire Station 2, she said portions of the roof appear to be an over-framed metal system in generally fair condition but noted interior layout problems for 24/7 occupancy (single shared bathrooms, constrained bunk and day-room arrangements) and that some repairs are not practically feasible (for example, raising a low garage door opening).
Branch said the report included prioritized “phase” budgets so council can align a maintenance budget with the most urgent repairs across the three facilities. She cautioned the cost estimates are conceptual and will change once design work begins: “These budgets are going to be a percentage wrong because I have not designed anything,” she said, but they provide planning guidance for allocating dollars across building envelope, mechanical, ADA and interior priorities.
In addition to the existing-facility review, TLM Associates presented schematic concepts and a property search for a new combined police and Fire Station 1. Branch said the team tested several parcels (a “Ballpark Property” near First Baptist, a site near Dairy Queen, a housing-authority parcel and a preferred “library property” off the square). The library-adjacent site was the consultant’s favored location because it could accommodate both departments and use the site topography to separate apparatus bays from public spaces.
Branch said the team visited other Tennessee municipalities and toured recently built police/fire facilities to inform functional adjacencies (evidence and sally port locations, shared training spaces) and that schematics will be refined with police and fire input. She estimated schematics-level construction costs at roughly $25 million and described a multi-phase budgeting approach: schematic budget, a more detailed engineer-refined budget, and then construction-document estimates and bid alternates to help the city make trade-offs.
Mayor and council members asked about funding sources and whether USDA rural development or other grant programs might help; Branch said rural development programs sometimes provide low fixed-rate financing but cautioned that large construction grants for new public-safety buildings are uncommon. Branch recommended the city secure a preferred property before finalizing building design.
The presentation closed with Branch offering to return with finalized schematics in mid-June; she said schematic plans, site plans and elevations would be shown after the design team meets with police and fire staff to finalize program needs.
Ending: Council members thanked Branch and discussed next steps such as confirming property options and scheduling a schematic follow-up presentation. The facilities report and the schematic concepts are intended as planning tools to help the city budget for near-term maintenance and for a multi-year capital project to replace or consolidate police and fire facilities.
