By Sarah Opdahl

At the Tuesday, September 8 New Fairfield Permanent Building Committee (PBC) meeting, there was an update on the bus lot, which will be built at 302 Ball Pond Road. After much discussion and revision, the bid set documents were released, as reported by Colliers International’s Mr. Mark Schweitzer. He walked the PBC through the overall schedule, which will ideally land on their doorstep for approval in early October, allowing the bus lot construction to proceed.

Schweitzer explained that there is a good amount of interest in the project, with several firms in attendance at a pre-bid walkthrough. Colliers will field any inquiries that come in and bids are due on Wednesday, September 23. JCJ Architecture’s Ms. Christine O’Hare shared that inquiries have already come in about geotechnical reports and potential staging.

A Request for Proposals (RFP)  for the work that is needed to begin the process of replacing the propane pipes to the high school’s science classrooms was released, Schweitzer explained. He laid out the overall initial schedule, which is expected to be a six-week period for design, a two-week period for review,  and two weeks to get the drawings ready to put out to bid. PBC members clarified that the design is to choose a route for the replacement piping and stressed that bidders need to fully understand the many issues with the project. Schweitzer said that this was correct and added, “we thought about going up and over on the roof, but if they come out and they’ve got another way to run it inside the building” they are open to it. He also answered questions about the existing piping to say that the request now includes language about removing the existing piping, but this may be scaled back, depending on the cost. There is a hope to have all work completed at the school with as minimal amount of disruption as possible.

There was a brief discussion regarding the New Fairfield Free Public Library renovation project, for which an RFP was approved and was scheduled for release on September 14. A pre-proposal meeting is scheduled for September 28 and proposals are due back on October 7. The RFP will be changed to include a bit more information about expected incremental updates on progress that will be needed at future PBC meetings, in addition to design meetings with the library board and staff. PBC members agreed that updates at the major milestones of 20%, 50%, and 90% for construction documents makes sense for their meetings.

The leaking fire tanks at the elementary school were again a topic of conversation as questions about the warranty have arisen. Schweitzer walked through the timeline, saying, “The tanks were completed in the summer of 2022. In January of 2023, or the winter of 2022-23, there was a report that came in that they were leaking…” They fixed the tanks at the time and that held until the fall of 2025. The issue is complicated by the fact that the installers bid on a single tank installation that grew to a multi-tank installation with link seals, but PBC Chair Mr. Don Kellogg pointed out, “it’s still their workmanship. They’re responsible to give us a compliant design, a compliant installation. I mean, they should have said we’re not going to build it if they thought there was something wrong with it before, not after.” PBC members agreed that once they receive a response from the installer it is possibly time to get the Town attorney involved.

The next regular New Fairfield Permanent Building Committee meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, September 22, 7:30 p.m.