Byxbe Campus plans agreement in place

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In a regularly scheduled session Thursday, the Delaware County Board of Commissioners approved a professional agreement with M+A Architects for the completion of the design plans for the second phase of the Delaware County Byxbe Campus.

The board approved a $607,100 appropriation on Thursday, June 13, for the campus renovations.

“I can’t speak highly enough of M+A through this process,” said Brad Lutz, Business Operations and Financial Management, director. “They have met with multiple departments, multiple times. It’s been a great process working through them. They come with a lot of great ideas and have been willing to work through design changes.”

Lutz said he felt that whatever the final design yields, “it be the best possible design for this building and any other structures built out there.”

In July 2017, commissioners approved a contract to purchase the Delaware Area Career Center (DACC) North Campus for $1.7 million to become the new Byxbe Campus.

According to the county auditor’s website, the nearly 20-acre campus is a single-story, 128,313 square-foot structure built in 1974.

According to the country’s Facilities Master Plan, authored in partnership with the Columbus-based engineering firm Star Consultants, approved by the board Oct. 12, 2017, the site will be renovated to house: the sheriff’s administrative offices; county engineer; code compliance department; sanitary engineer (Regional Sewer District); Delaware County Regional Planning Commission; facilities management department; and the Delaware County Dog Shelter.

During this year’s State of the County Address, Commissioner Barb Lewis announced that the new county government facility would be named the Byxbe Campus in honor of Moses Byxbe, the founder of the city of Delaware.

“The Delaware County Historical Society has described Byxbe as a ‘man of exceptional energy, courage and drive’ whose work attracted high-caliber settlers’ to the area,” Lewis said at that time.

Commissioner Jeff Benton asked for a timeline of when the county can take possession of the building and what was the expected move-in date.

Lutz told the commissioners that there had been a meeting with the DACC facilities manager in the past couple weeks.

“They are still shooting for the Sept. 1 date of doing the transfer of ownership of the building,” he said. “It may be delayed a couple of weeks, just that they still need more time to move some stuff.”

Lutz said construction would not begin before 2020.

“With everyone moving in, I would say give or take, sometime early 2021,” he told the commissioner. “Some departments might be able to move in sooner.”

The Byxbe Campus is only one piece of the county’s Master Facilities Plan of re-purposing buildings.

The former Delaware County Courthouse located at 91 N. Sandusky St. will be called “The Historic Courthouse,” and it will house the county’s Board of Commissioners, Veterans Service Commission, Economic Development, Fiscal Services, Communications, and Human Resources.

According to a historical marker located outside the courthouse, the cornerstone for the structure was laid in May of 1868 and the building “was ready for occupancy in January of 1870.”

Once the commissioners vacate the old Carnegie Library, it will become a secure facility housing the 9-1-1 Center, Emergency Medical Services Department and Emergency Management Agency. The facility will be known as “The Carnegie Building.”

A number of buildings will be sold after they are vacated: 109 N. Sandusky St., 115 N. Sandusky St., 149 N. Sandusky St., 1405 U.S. Route 23 North, 50 Channing St., 4781 County Home Road.

Selling the vacated buildings is expected to generate approximately 25% of the estimated $22,035,751 cost of the renovations and relocations. Completion of all phases of the plan is expected no sooner than May 2020.

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By D. Anthony Botkin

[email protected]

Contact D. Anthony Botkin at 740-413-0902. Follow him on Twitter @dabotkin.

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