ARUNDEL — Slowly but surely, progress is being made on advancing a proposal for a new town hall building in Arundel.

The prospect of a new facility, which was first broached seriously in 2012, hit a roadblock late last year when a town-owned property on Route 1, which had been considered as a possible site, was rejected after studies found that development of the parcel would be cost prohibitive. Sebago Technics, the architectural firm which has been tapped to scout locations and draw up preliminary floor plans, determined that myriad grade changes, wetlands and possible vernal pools on the Route 1 plot made it a less-than-ideal location for the building.

In the intervening months, two locations have been considered viable: a tract of land straddling the corner of Bergeron Drive and Mountain Road and a plot on Limerick Road. Both parcels would have to be purchased by the town, which would add to the overall project cost, but at this point, both seem viable in terms of construction, said Town Manager Todd Shea.

While the Bergeron Drive location has not been outright disqualified, selectmen on Monday elected to promote the Limerick Road site in bringing the issue before voters, as it seemed a more feasible option.

Will Conway, vice president of landscape architecture at Sebago Technics, said the Bergeron Drive location has wetlands on the footprint of where the new town hall would be located, and may have potential rocky outcroppings that would make construction difficult. It’s also not the best location in terms of centrality and visibility, he said.

“It’s not a great site, location-wise,” said Conway. “The town hall should really have a civic presence. … It’s not the quality you’re really looking for in the image of the town hall.”

The Limerick Road parcel has its own shortcomings ”“ chief among them the cost. Shea said Monday the land would be more expensive to purchase.

Conway argued that the benefits to Limerick Road would justify the land’s heftier price tag.

“We feel very good about this (site),” he said. “To me, it’s the heart of town. It’s not Route 1; it’s Limerick Road. It’s a road that will be traversed by many Arundel residents.”

Town officials have been eager to replace the aging, ramshackle town hall currently located between the fire station and the Mildred L. Day School. Employees who work there have complained that the building is drafty, cramped, short on storage space, and lacking in handicapped accessibility.

To address these issues, the town has been working closely with Sebago Technics Principal Architect Ryan Senatore. On Monday, Senatore presented a draft of floor plans that were modified to account for municipal employees’ input on issues such as workflow and efficiency.

“In terms of the budget, we went to a new contractor we work with to get their opinion, and the cost came in … at about $175 a square foot,” said Senatore. “We thought that was a pretty good price for what this program included.”

The preliminary floor plans are far from final, but they reflect a town hall that would likely be housed in a one-story building ”“ giving Arundel more “bang for the buck,” according to Senatore.

Issues remain, including a debate on the location of Shea’s office in proximity to the front of the building. While Shea has professed a preference to remain as accessible to the public as possible, Senatore suggests that having a more private, remote office could be feasible if there was reception space near the front where Shea could meet with citizens.

The plans take into account a large amount of storage space, which Shea said is necessary to house documents and records that can’t be digitized, such as subdivision plans, signed documents and records of elections that must be kept for a certain number of years.

“The spaces are OK,” said Town Clerk Simone Boissonneault, “but I think the flow could be adjusted to have the departments interact a little bit easier and share things easier. You don’t want to make it so you have two copiers because we’re so separated.”

Preliminary projections estimate that the town hall building could cost somewhere in the vicinity of $1.2-1.8 million, resulting in a possible 40-cent increase to the mil rate. Shea said that if a new town hall is rejected by voters, patchwork improvements will have to be made to the existing building in the next few years, starting with the aging roof.

“It may not be the ideal time to ask these questions,” said Shea, particularly in light of voters’ recent rejection of a $75 million renovation project for facilities in Regional School Unit 21. “But it’s something that needs to be addressed.”

— Staff Writer Jeff Lagasse can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 319 or jlagasse@journaltribune.com.