FFHA Hears Schedule For

New Town Hall Construction

By John Voket

Project management officials presented Fairfield Hills Authority members with an ambitious prediction for one of the major projects scheduled for the town-owned campus during a meeting at Town Hall South last Tuesday evening. If representatives from the project management firm O&G have their way, they say that visitors could see the beginnings of construction on a new town hall beginning as soon as November 2006.

During a report to the authority this week, preconstruction manager Scott Baille laid out a timeline for each of the major municipal initiatives set to play out on the former state hospital grounds in the coming years. And while a three-page spreadsheet containing particulars detailing each facet of the work indicates bidding on the town hall project would not be completed until January 9, 2007, Mr Baille said he was hopeful that at least the town hall phase on the “extremely preliminary” schedule could be bumped up somewhat.

“Today I held the first official design team meeting to discuss the projects’ scopes of work,” Mr Baille told authority members. “We reviewed the preliminary project schedule. We all agreed the schedule was fairly accurate. We could probably improve on some end dates and start construction a little earlier because the design will not take as long.”

Mr Baille said his meeting with representatives of Hartford-based Tai Soo Kim Partners and Vollmer Associates LLP of Hamden was held to review the preliminary schedules, outline expectations of the design process and to outline constraints in the project budget.

“Vollmer Associates will set the overall theme as far as site lighting, signage, landscaping to an extent, coordination of sidewalk elements and so forth,” Mr Baille said. “Vollmer representatives will also have to get together with Parks and Rec to discuss different options we’re looking at with the [sports] fields and the walking trail.”

First Selectman Herb Rosenthal suggested Tai Soo Kim representatives acquire and review projections for town and school offices that were already produced for the Master Plan of Development by another local firm.

“There’s a lot of detail on that report,” Mr Rosenthal said. “Then they won’t have to duplicate work.”

Authority member Judge William Lavery asked if fee negotiations for each of the design firms was still in process. Mr Baille replied that while the firms had already began their work in good faith, fee schedules were not finalized because representatives from the firms were still working out scopes on the projects.

“As soon as the fee structure is completed they will be forwarded to town officials for approval,” Mr Baille said. He said contracts could be completed in time for one of the next Board of Selectmen meetings in January.

Authority chairman Robert Geckle asked that O&G contact and involve authority members Andrew Willie and Walter Motyka as the firms continue refining details and expanding the preliminary schedule.

“I’d like to get exact design durations to put on the schedule before we sit down and talk in detail with [authority] members,” Mr Baille said. He said the work on the campus is planned to play out in two or three phases including mothballing buildings scheduled for possible reuse, constructing the new town hall, and install playing fields and a recreational walking track around the grounds.

Presenting Options

When it came to formulating budget proposals for each component, Mr Geckle said he would prefer to see the work detailed in a high, medium, and low scope.

“My hope coming out of this is that we have options,” Mr Geckle said. “When you’re talking particularly about the town hall, say you’ve got eight million dollars. Then you just tell us what eight million dollars gets us. But I think on the playing fields that’s got a lot more variables like demolition, site availability, so I’d like to see a first, second, and third option.”

Mr Rosenthal said that work on the walking trail should be a priority because it was something that the largest segment of the public could use.

“The walking areas would be something anybody could avail themselves of, so I think depending on what it costs to do them I would think this would be a fairly high priority,” Mr Rosenthal said.

The first selectman added that there were a number of alternative sources of private and public grant funding, particularly for the trail system, and Mr Motyka suggested local commercial enterprises be contacted to determine if some corporate underwriting might be available as well.

When reviewing the preliminary time line, authority member Don Studley asked Mr Baille to clarify his comments on possibly moving the time line forward for the town hall project.

“Is this an ambitious timetable? Because it looks really ambitious to me,” Mr Studley said.

Judge Lavery pointed out that a full evaluation of Shelton Hall should be completed before any timetables are projected.

Mr Baille said both design firms would be doing comprehensive evaluations of the area and would present their conclusions about possible reuse of Shelton Hall by the authority’s January 17 meeting.

“Tai Soo Kim will have a recommendation about Bridgeport, Shelton, a combination or a stand-alone building, and Vollmer will have had time to sit down with Parks and Rec to determine the location of the fields,” Mr Baille said.

Although he said schedules may be accelerated on certain projects, according to Mr Baille’s initial and preliminary timeline, the bidding process for the new town hall would begin by December 4, 2006, and conclude January 9, 2007. Construction would subsequently begin on or before February 19, 2007.

O&G hopes to solicit construction estimates for mothballing by February 21, 2006, and start mobilizing crews to that end by next April 17.

During the selection presentations by Tai Soo Kim Partners, authority and selection committee members heard about “building conservation measures” for Woodbury Hall, Newtown Hall, Stratford Hall, and Plymouth Hall. They were told at the time that each of the structures will be carefully evaluated for integrity and possible reuse before final decisions are made on whether each facility will be mothballed or demolished.

Bidding for the playing fields construction is set to begin on or before July 17, 2006, with actual construction commencing no later than next September 11.