Council Approves CIP,

Hears About Four High School Options

By John Voket

Wednesday evening, the Legislative Council endorsed a Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) that was submitted for approval by the Board of Finance in mid-December. The CIP is a tool designed to provide guidance for financing top projects the town faces in the coming five years.

On the municipal side, the board endorsed funding open space acquisition at $2 million, the Commerce Road technology park project at $2.95 million, three new fire trucks over the next three years at $1.34 million, a senior center expansion at $1.3 million, and police department building improvements at $1.1 million.

Council member Joseph Borst, who cast the lone vote against accepting the plan as submitted, told The Bee after the meeting that he was displeased that First Selectman Herb Rosenthal would not immediately agree to involve the Public Building Committee in planning for the Senior Center renovations.

During the meeting, Mr Rosenthal suggested that he might involve that panel at some future point in the planning process, but he was not required to involve the committee at this early stage of the proposed funding process. Mr Borst later pointed to a stipulation in the charter mandating that that committee be involved in all municipal building projects, and that he could not endorse a capital plan without being assured that eventuality would come to pass.

On the school district side of the CIP, the finance board endorsed $4.48 million for the middle school HVAC renovation and $2.43 million for a similar project at Sandy Hook School. Before submitting the CIP to the council for consideration, the finance board adjusted the funding number for a proposed high school addition and renovation that was initially estimated at $41 million.

The Board of Finance had proposed that number, originally tendered as a so-called “place holder” by the Board of Education, be reduced to $30 million. The finance board eventually settled on, and unanimously voted, to set the CIP number for a high school project at $25 million.

Council Education subcommittee chairman Patricia Llodra took issue with endorsing the $25 million number when it might not accurately reflect the final cost of a potential project. During her report on the education subcommittee, Ms Llodra specifically referenced a meeting of an ad hoc group that was recently formed and met January 12 to continue exploring high school space needs options.

High School Options

During that report, she outlined four options that were currently on the table, reflecting cost estimates ranging up to or exceeding $150 million. The first consideration might be for a “satellite school,” to be constructed on the grounds of Fairfield Hills.

“The target population for that satellite school would be about 400 to 500 students, intended to be a short-term measure to relieve the overcrowding at the existing school,” she told the full council. “The cost projection for that option, speculative, is somewhere between $30 to $40 million depending on the size and programs.”

The second option was to continue to expand on the existing high school site. However, she reported that the school board was now considering a 66,000-square-foot addition to accommodate an increasing student population projected in the district’s latest estimates from the state. As recently as late December, the renovation and addition plan reflected a 48,000-square-foot addition.

She explained that the increased space would constitute a redrawing of plans, shifting the area previously being considered for a build-out to other areas of the campus.

First Selectman Herb Rosenthal, who was in attendance, added that 66,000-square-feet was the maximum allowable cap for the town to qualify for maximum reimbursement from the state on such a project.

The third option was to construct a brand new high school, presumably on a town-owned site, at a cost of $150 million before state reimbursement. That plan would also dictate shifting the middle school to the vacated high school building.

There was no related discussion or suggestions about future utilization of the middle school building on Queen Street.

“A fourth option was mentioned, and that is a second high school be built to accommodate half the students, and that Newtown would become a two high school town,” Ms Llodra told her fellow council members. She went on to say that the school board was motivated to collaborate with leaders from other town boards as soon as possible, because School Superintendent Evan Pitkoff was committed to going before the state Education Department with a finalized and approved new high school plan by June 30 of this year.

In qualifying her remarks about the four options, Ms Llodra called the plan for a second high school “a decent consideration.”

Council finance subcommittee chairman Joseph DiCandido asked Ms Llodra if the new single facility option was favored, what the town would get for the estimated $150 million.

“The vision would be that it would accommodate up to 2,000 students,” she answered. She acquiesced, however, that to date no hard planning had been done to that end and that no specifics were available yet.

Council member Stacie Doyle asked when the current school would reach capacity, and she was reminded that the facility was already over capacity.

“The projections for next year are an increase of 75 students — it’s a creeping problem,” Ms Llodra said.

She admitted that to date, the staff and administration have found ways to handle the overload.

“There are ways to accommodate changes, but you have to make compromises,” Ms Llodra said.

During ensuing discussions, Ms Llodra reiterated her discomfort with the existing CIP number for the high school project, but was reassured by council chair Will Rodgers and Mr DiCandido that the $25 million was a guideline, and subject to change depending on the outcome of the school board’s space-needs discussions.

“We’d rather have a plan we could follow in the short term,” Mr DiCandido said. “Hopefully this plan gives us some discipline [in spending], and we’ll follow it to the best of our ability given the information we have to act on.

“Right now we have no hard facts, no real information,” he added.

Council member David Brown suggested that the CIP was more of an advisory to residents about future capital investments.

“The CIP is a heads-up to the town so they’re not sandbagged when it comes time to finance the projects,” Mr Brown concluded.