(The following story by Mary Ann Ford appeared on the Bloomington Pantagraph website on January 5, 2010.)
NORMAL, Ill. — A change in Amtrak’s station guidelines has prompted a redesign of the first floor of the planned transportation center in uptown Normal.
The City Council approved paying Ratio Architects of Champaign up to $61,000 for the redesign.
Councilman Jeff Fritzen questioned why it will take about 300 hours (the equivalent of $61,000) to make the changes.
“It’s because we’re so far along,” said City Manager Mark Peterson. “If we would be at a schematic, it wouldn’t be so bad but it’s quite a bit of work to redo the first-floor design.”
Assistant City Manager Pamela Reece said Ratio was working under the guidelines Amtrak provided in the past years and had 95 percent of the design work done when Amtrak alerted the architects to the changes.
Reece said Amtrak has changed a number of guidelines, including the design for the ticketing, agent, cueing, ramp, waiting and baggage areas. In addition, there are new requirements for heating and air conditioning and handling exhaust.
Peterson said the town’s representative overseeing the project reviewed Ratio’s proposal and found it to be reasonable.
“They have to redo everything, not just make a few tweaks,” he said.
The town is waiting to hear if it will get the necessary $20 million in federal stimulus money for the $38 million project. It has already received about $11.4 million, but it won’t be built until the rest of the funding comes through.
The center would be built just west of the Children’s Discovery Museum along Beaufort Street and would serve buses and taxis in addition to Amtrak.
Normal also plans to move many of its offices and the City Council chambers from City Hall to the new facility.