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University presents modified arts center plan to public

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Architect Scott Slarsky presents a new version of the Emery Community Arts Center to the planning board Monday evening.

FARMINGTON – University of Maine at Farmington representatives presented a revised proposal to the planning board and public Monday evening, for an arts center in the heart of the campus.

With a far different atmosphere than some previous meetings, the more than 50 members of the audience laughed and applauded in the packed room at the presentation. Listening to the concerns of the Farmington Public Library, Maine Historical Preservation Commission, Farmington Historical Society and many members of the public, UMF’s team of planners, architects and engineers have altered the plans for the Emery Community Arts Center.


The new proposal for the Emery Community Arts Center, projected on a wall at the meeting. The central red rectangle would be the new position of the building.


The old plan, with the arts center wrapped around the north and west of the Alumni Theatre.

Specifically, the team worked hard over the past nine days to shift the entire building to the west side of the Alumni Theatre. Previously, the proposed 14,000 square foot, L-shaped arts center has been designed to wrap around the north and west sides of Alumni Theatre. As the vast majority of concern had been focused on the formerly-proposed lobby, partially made of glass and wrapping around the northern entryway facade of Alumni Theatre, the scheduled public hearing was far briefer than many had anticipated.

A gift from an anonymous donor of $5 million will fund the entire building project.

UMF President Theo Kalikow said that planners had decided to alter the design after repeatedly meeting with the Farmington Public Library’s Board of Trustees, MHPC representatives and Farmington Historical Society, as well as speaking with members of the public.

“Even if we would win at the end,” she said, “we’d lose.”

Instead of a protracted battle with some of the university’s close partners, Kalikow said that UMF’s planning team had decided to rework the plans to create a building. While the proposed arts center is now entirely to the west of Alumni Theatre, the two buildings would still share a lobby, with handicapped access to the older building still available through a primary entrance. Furthermore, Kalikow noted, the center would still link together with Merrill Hall’s Noridica Auditorium, the Alumni Theatre and the Farmington Public Library to form an “arts quad.”

“We basically took this portion,” DesignLAB Architects’ Architect Scott Slarsky said, pointing to the northern portion of the older design, “and moved it [to the west of Alumni Theatre], lengthening the building.”

Much smaller glass segments have been maintained in the new design, around the three main points of entry around the Emery building. 

“We would like to have as much glass as the community will tolerate,” Slarsky joked at one point. The so-called “glass lobby” in the original design had been a major sticking point for many.


A three-dimensional model of the new plan. Academy Street would be running along the bottom edge of the picture, with the public library to the left, Merrill Hall to the right, and conjoined Alumni Theatre and Emery Community Arts Center at the top.


An older model, showing the Emery Community Arts Center wrapping around the Alumni Theatre building.

Architects are still not certain about how the “front” of Alumni Theatre, which abuts Academy Street, will be developed although Slarsky did receive a round of applause when the audience learned that a tree currently near the site would not need to be cut down.

Inside, planners have shifted around the rooms to allow no decrease in program oppertunites. The two-story building’s footprint of 10,000 square feet is not anticipated to change.

Many of the groups and individuals who had spoke out against the project previously had warmed considerably to the new proposal.

“On behalf of the board of trustees,” Farmington Public Library Trustee President Juanita Bean-Smith said, “I’d like to thank the university for listening to our concerns, addressing them and continuing to be a good neighbor.”

Previously, the public library’s board had voiced concerns about the building’s proximity to the library, which they said would reduce its visibility, cut down on available space for future repairs and potentially damage the old building’s foundation with nearby construction.

In addition to the construction now planned to commence at a greater distance, many in the audience audibly sighed in relief when Slarksy announced that core samples had found no trace of a rock shelf, and that blasting would likely not be necessary.

Farmington Historical Society President Taffy Davis also thanked the university, but said her organization was waiting for the MHPC’s opinion on the new plan prior to issuing a final statement. 

“It is a big step in the right direction,” Davis noted.

Both local and state organization were concerned that the addition to the Alumni Theatre would alter a historically-significant building facade with a “contemporary” design.

Many of the sketches and plans shown by the architects were incomplete, with planners having worked hard to alter the proposal in nine days. The planning board has set a new walkover for Aug. 26 at 3 p.m, as the new proposal has the building extending further south than previous. Meanwhile, Slarsky said, architects and engineers would try to have updated plans submitted by Aug. 31 for a planning board meeting on Sept. 14.

Current storm water and erosion-prevention provisions are not anticipated to change significantly.

Kalikow conceded that the entire timeline for the project would likely be pushed back by the alterations. Having previously hoped for construction to start this fall, UMF would instead be aiming for a spring 2010 build date.


UMF President Theo Kalikow addresses the audience Monday evening.

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1 Comment

  1. I am pleased that UMF listened to their neighbors. Getting to their “ears” took some doing, but it proves that it can be done. My biggest objection is that we’re losing parking spaces – parking spaces that are used by library patrons, particularly on Saturdays.
    What amazes me is that what was “impossible” to do in the initial planning stages of the building on this location is now possible. I hope that all the improvements to the Alumni Theatre aren’t scratched.

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