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Consultant outlines Bluebird Gap options and cost trade-offs for relocating Hampton carousel
Summary
Consultant Tom Tingle presented two non-engineered Bluebird Gap Farm options (entrance-site and inside-farm), discussed environmental buffers and flood elevations, and offered high-level cost comparisons including $316,000 for repair and roughly $3.2 million for an entrance relocation with site infrastructure.
Tom Tingle of Guernsey and Tingle gave a high-level evaluation of Bluebird Gap Farm as a potential site for the carousel, emphasizing that the work was not an engineered study but an initial feasibility look. He described two options: an entrance location on Pine Chapel Road (outside the flood zone at roughly 12–13 feet elevation) and an inside-the-farm site near existing barns and event space.
Tingle outlined advantages and disadvantages for each site, including visibility and later operating hours for the entrance site versus stronger integration with farm amenities and existing infrastructure for the inside-farm option. He gave budget-level numbers: repairing the existing downtown building would be about $316,000; a new or raised building could approach $2,500,000; adding site infrastructure for the entrance option would raise that scenario to roughly $3,200,000. "40,000 visitors just this year alone," Tingle said of Bluebird Gap Farm's usage.
Tingle also noted environmental constraints (Chesapeake Bay preservation area buffers, wetlands and some flood areas) and trade-offs such as the need to relocate an iconic farm windmill for the inside option, or to build new restrooms and parking for the entrance option. Council and staff asked follow-up questions about parking location and wetland boundaries; staff recommended further study and a public-comment period before a final decision.
