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FARMINGTON – The planning board unanimously approved plans for a redesigned arts center adjacent to Alumni Theatre and Dearborn Gym Monday evening, with the audience applauding after the six-month process was finally complete.
The Emery Community Arts Center was first presented to the planning board in April.
“This has been a long process,” University of Maine at Farmington President Theodora Kalikow said. “I think we are finally ready, after many plans and many changes and many revisions, to present this application and actually ask you to vote on it.”
The modification removes the “glass lobby” in front of the Alumni Theatre facade, which drew the ire of local and state historical organizations, and keeps construction and the building away from the Farmington Public Library. The building, which would primarily be built out of white clapboard, will be much less visible from Academy and High Street, as shown in the next three photos.
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The center will share front steps with Alumni Theatre, with the same number of concrete stairs looping around the Academy Street egresses of both buildings. The theater’s current concrete steps, according to DesignLAB Architects’ Scott Slarsky, need to be replaced anyway. Designers hope this will help address the remaining concern of Maine Historic Preservation Commission, which was how the varying elevations of the north side of the two buildings would be maintained and reconciled.
Entering the Alumni Theatre would be achieved by going into the arts center and using an adjoining door which would would allow access to the new building’s lobby. The double doors of the Alumni Theatre would be used as an exit. Removing a small ticket booth and renovations to the current “lobby” of the theater would make that space a nicer-looking, more convenient place, Slarsky said.
The theater parking lot, which Slarsky and other members of the design team has termed as “dangerous,” would shrink to three handicapped spots near the street. Instead, a green area would be installed below the concrete steps of the Alumni Theatre. This would serve as a meeting place for students or community members utilizing an aspect of the “arts quad.”
Passage through the campus walkway, which runs north and south parallel to Main Street and High through the heart of the campus, would be maintained through the new building. The western facade of Alumni Theatre, would serve as a canvas, with art work being displayed in the window frames. Across the walkway from the theater facade would be the two floors; a 100-seat performance theater, multipurpose art spaces, a digital music studio and some storage and a small kitchen.
Designers are also calling for a redistribution of concrete walkways to the west of the arts center, with an eye toward creating a raised amphitheater. That space would connect with the internal performance theater via a large, sliding set of doors. An access path from Main Street to the center has been widened to 20 feet to help accommodate fire trucks.
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“These folks went out of their way,” Planning Board member Craig Jordan said, prior to moving the plan’s approval, “to make this acceptable to pretty much everyone in town. The college is a good neighbor, and that should be recognized.”
The planning board heard a brief presentation by the design team, having previously reviewed plans. Voting members of the board were unanimous in their approval, with Planning Board Member Thomas Eastler, who is a professor at UMF, recusing himself. Those in attendance applauded after the plan was approved.
The center still needs Department of Environmental Protection approval, and intends to submit the plan to Maine Historical Preservation Commission as a courtesy. Construction would begin next year, with the project being funded through a $5 million gift from an anonymous donor.
