Upper Marlboro Brainstorms Functions of Town Hall Addition

Upper Marlboro Board of Town Commissioners discussed a floor plan for a new town hall addition on Tuesday.

Commissioners president Stephen Sonnett told Upper Marlboro town meeting attendees in the current town hall that the plan addressed various functions the addition could serve. (See attached draft floor plan). He asked those in attendance to avoid getting hung up on the specific design because it was still being studied. Sonnett brought up ideas and commented on the potential functions for the addition, including: 

• More room for the police and their own entrance to town hall.
• Putting in accounting-type windows, where people could pay bills and fines. This can be a disruptive process at times under the current setup.
• New entrance in the town hall addition with an air-lock door that helps control temperatures inside the building.
• Small public hall/area.
• Historic display area and work area that also could be used as a small conference room.
• Locker room storage and a bathroom for staff. These areas could be used by police who occasionally get pepper sprayed or used by people in public works who get dirty. They would have a place to shower and store uniforms.
• Broadcast room.
• Mechanical room. This is still being studied. It could be a location for a planned sprinkler system. An alternative would be to cut into the existing town hall building and make that whole area mechanical.
• A place where people could come in an emergency, such as a power outage, for three or four days. The working plan has two bathrooms with a shower, and a kitchen/lunch area next to that. The kitchen could also be used if a caterer needed working space for a function.
• Meeting room with 99-seat capacity, plus a place for people to put their coats and a storage area for tables and chairs.

Sonnett said the town would also explore solar panels and building the addition to be an economical green building.

Fielding questions from meeting attendees, Sonnett said that the project wouldn't be started for another year, that the exterior would be a brick facade, and that he town was working to keep roof lines down to prevent them from negatively impacting surrounding homes. 

Many more discussions about the addition are planned, according to Sonnett, who added the board would keep investigating and taking comments into consideration.

Do you have any thoughts on the functions the town hall addition could serve? Share them in the comments below.