In a $3.8 million project that took about a year to complete, the township's 40-year-old building was expanded to 12,000 square feet.
The new space includes a lobby lit by a locally made chandelier, a full reception area and new meeting rooms that will allow community groups and township advisory councils to meet simultaneously.
The police department space in the basement is about two and a half times its original size. It includes two holding cells.
"The really big improvement is the amount of space available for public meetings," said township manager John Granger. "There wasn't any space here."
In a new second-story area are two meeting rooms, accessed by elevator or wooden steps and a bridge in the lobby. The larger of the two rooms - at about 1,300-square feet - features Nakashima tables and chairs. Renowned furniture maker George Nakashima resided in the township before his death in 1990 and his family still runs a furniture studio in Solebury.
The second room is about 500 square feet.
Gretchen Rice, assistant township manager, said the building is generally more user friendly.
"The main entrance (used to be) on the side and you'd come into this dark little building," she said. "To get anywhere you had to go through a narrow hallway."
Now visitors enter through a main entrance that faces Sugan Road. The exterior addition is made from the same indigenous stone used in the original building.
Granger said the additional space will help township staff do their jobs better.
"It's tough for three or four people to work in a space that was designed for one," he said. The expanded building "gives the employees the space to work comfortably and address the needs of the public.
About 8,500 people live in Solebury, substantially more than in 1960 when the original building was constructed, Granger said. He estimated the population at less than 3,000 then.
Today, 11 people work full time for the township, plus 15 police officers and two department secretaries.
Though providing space and modernizing the building were the motivations for the project, the township also set out to bring local artisans in to help with the design work to create a building with a Solebury feel, officials said.
Sheryl Fredendall of Charlie's Girl designed the decorative lights, Rice said. "We wanted something original, something Solebury."
Christian Blackwood of Solebury Lighting in Buckingham helped pick the color themes,.
Blackwood said more "appointments" are to come. Wood from the locally famous Columbus Oak that fell in 1999 will be used, for instance, to make frames, he said. A quilt, antique maps and more are yet to come.
"There are all kinds of interesting stories (that will be) in those new rooms that relate to the community, said Blackwood, who said he donated his design time to the township.
Staff members moved into the building Friday, leaving behind the modular buildings on the site they had used for the past 14 months, while the construction project was completed.
Chief Richard Mangan said that things were going well given the recent move. "For just moving in on Friday, we're functioning."
The supervisors will hold their first meeting in the building Aug. 16.
This article appeared in the Intelligencer on August 2, 2005.
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