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TAYLOR , from Page 1 said .
Taylor spoke about the firm ’ s experience
“ Throughout my career , I ’ ve designed over 200 parks , school campuses , fields , recreation areas throughout the state of New Jersey . We ’ ve also done a lot of streetscape design ,” Taylor said .
Taylor said that the firm focuses its designs on functionality , aesthetics , durability , maintenance and accessibility .
“ We ’ ve designed everything from turf fields to spray parks to large regional trail projects ,” Taylor said .
Taylor described the work his firm is doing with the town of Hammonton .
“ We did a re-visioning of Hammonton Lake Park with some upgrades for that that are being
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implemented through grant opportunities now . We ’ ve also been working on several grant opportunities for bike paths , sidewalks , connections through DOT [ New Jersey Department of Transportation ]; some of those , actually , come right in front of the middle school ,” Taylor said .
Board president Sam Mento III asked Taylor to explain how a pay structure would work should the board decide to establish a relationship with his firm , and Taylor replied .
“ If we have a relationship , it can be as simple as : I got a phone call one day from the mayor of Avalon saying , ‘ We need — somebody just dedicated a bench — it needs to go at this corner ; where does it go ?’ We researched the sight triangles ; we made sure it was outside the sight triangles so we don ’ t negatively impact vehicular circulation , and then the question was , do we want it to face the street or face the stores ?” Taylor said .
Taylor said that his firm billed $ 118 for that , as it took one hour of time .
“ That ’ s really how we work . There is no set lump sum . If the district and the board said , ‘ Hey , we ’ d like to work on a master plan for this section , or we need a new location ,’ and we have stakeholder meetings and we go through a process , we can write a proposal
Wednesday , December 21 , 2022 • The Hammonton Gazette • Page 3
Taylor Design Group , Triad Associates address bd . of education
for something like that . But , there are a lot of times that we get called in for very simple elements ,” Taylor said .
Taylor offered a hypothetical situation involving a solar array .
“ What should we do outside the fence ? That answer might be , hey , we can do a pollinator meadow , have it soften the visibility of the fence , maybe put a sign on there that says ‘ Hammonton Schools Sustainability Project ’ and we lean into some pollinator habitat in conjunction with the solar and the sustainability element of that ,” Taylor said .
Taylor said that his firm has also had recommendations for inside solar areas .
“ Instead of doing lawn that has to be mowed five or 25 times a year , go with a low , knee-high pollinator mix that creates a couple acres of habitat . That only needs to be mowed once per year , so there are advantages there that are cost-saving , they improve the environment , it helps create an educational component for the kids or for the members of the community ,” Taylor said . Mento continued . “ If we were to reach out to you , it would not be unreasonable for us to enter into a do-not-exceed type of contract ?” Mento said , asking if such an agreement was a common practice .
Taylor replied .
“ It is very common with a lot of our municipalities and our schools ,” Taylor said .
Mento asked about the employees at Taylor Design Group .
“ To the best of your knowledge , do any of those employees have a relationship or earn income in the same household of any of our board members here present tonight ?” Mento said .
Taylor responded in the negative . “ Absolutely not ,” Taylor said . Board member Kelli Fallon asked if Taylor Design Group would bid for a large project absent an established relationship , and Taylor answered .
“ In a community where we have some relationship , and some connection , we will bid on projects . If I get a call from a community in North Jersey that I ’ ve never heard of before , we don ’ t travel to bid on projects like that ,” Taylor said .
Board member Barbara Berenato asked Taylor if the work done with schools is typically with existing campuses or with those being designed .
“ Almost all of that work has been existing schools ,” Taylor said .
Donio said that , should the board decide to establish a rela-
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