FFH Authority Seeks Symmetry On Projects

By John Voket

The Fairfield Hills Authority scheduled a special meeting Thursday evening, and was expected to act on recommendations by an interview committee to hire firms that will design several major projects on the town-owned campus. Since the meeting was held after The Bee was published Thursday, but before it was delivered to subscribers Friday, authority vice chairman Andrew Willie was reluctant to discuss specifics about the firms that surfaced as finalists among six contenders for the work.

But the authority representative was able to confirm that one finalist would likely be selected to plan the mothballing of existing buildings being considered for eventual reuse, as well as construction of a new town hall. A second firm was expected to be named to handle the design of sports fields and a recreational walking trail around the campus.

Mr Willie said finalists were selected after presentations by each firm in the running were evaluated by committees that included First Selectman Herb Rosenthal, Parks and Recreation Director Barbara Kasbarian, Public Works Director Fred Hurley, members of the Parks and Recreation Commission and representatives from O&G Industries, project manager for ongoing work at Fairfield Hills. He said each selection committee was charged with narrowing the field of contenders from more than a dozen expressing initial interest and offering qualifications for the specific projects.

Once finalists are formally endorsed by the authority, Mr Willie said, conceptual renderings and other details that surfaced during their respective presentations would likely be released to the public. During the presentations the authority vice chair said he was impressed with the kind of “out of the box” thinking that yielded some options no one had considered.

“One of the presenters came up with a multipurpose field that could serve as two baseball fields with movable fences that could turn into a soccer field,” Mr Willie said.

He said he was pleased that each of the six contenders had previously worked with the project management firm O&G, and that the coordination of all parties on each of the projects would ensure an overall symmetry with any new buildings, the trail network, and the playing fields.

“We want to be sure all the teams are working in concert,” he explained. “In the end there has to be full collaboration with the designs and architecture.”

Mr Willie said that at least one of the contenders for the town hall project offered a concept that combined the new municipal offices with Bridgeport Hall, creating more of a “government center” complex combining recreational, cultural, and other functionality beyond the basic town hall needs.

He said that ultimately, however, the final projects would all come down to the bottom line.

“It will all depend on costs,” he said. “We don’t know if it will cost more to tear down Shelton Hall and build new, or renovate part of the building we already have.”

According to Mr Willie, it would be the respective finalists that would produce cost estimates and options.

In respect to the trail network, the authority vice chair said he was pleased that each of the contenders had a wealth of experience in designing recreational tracks and trials.

“Each presenter came through with nice, wide, user-friendly trail ideas,” he said. “I’m hoping even though this network will be under the control of the authority, that we’ll be able to coordinate and tie in with the other trail networks across town to eventually develop a fully integrated trail network with Fairfield Hills as the center point.”

Besides meeting with contenders for construction projects on the former state hospital grounds, Mr Willie also attended a meeting with members of Trout Unlimited and the new Pootatuck Watershed Association. He said those representatives expressed concerns about the runoff from an underground stream that traverses the campus as soil remediation progresses through the winter.

“They wanted to be sure we were not only monitoring the runoff during remediation, but we were coordinating with them as we began planning things like the playing fields and parking lots,” Mr Willie said.

He also said local architect John Madzula was recently appointed as a permanent liaison between the environmental groups and the authority. Mr Madzula was one of the three individuals who tendered an application to fill a recent authority vacancy.

While the open seat was recently filled by Walter Motyka, Mr Madzula expressed that he would still like an opportunity to serve the community in some other capacity. So Mr Willie said the authority tapped the skilled architect to attend meetings and report to the panel on key environmental matters, a move that he said was endorsed heartily by the Pootatuck Watershed representatives.