On Tuesday, September 27, New Fairfield’s Permanent Building Committee (PBC) heard an update on a new elementary bus and parent drop off/pick up flow that has helped with the gridlock the campus was experiencing, especially at dismissal. Director of Business and Operations Ms. Carrie DuPuy said she is cautiously optimistic, “I’ll reserve judgment, but it seemed to work really well today, and it was pretty efficient and calm.” Regarding the negative public feedback about the continued use of Middleton Road, DuPuy said there are “various other conversations we can have about routing the buses a little bit differently as possible.”

In addition to completing curb cuts for the bus lanes at the elementary campus, “there are some permanent fixes that we need to make,” JCJ Architecture’s Ms. Christine O’Hare said. She went on to say, “We’re going to widen some of the contacts, so that the flow for the buses is easier around the bus loop there, and if they decide to use it with buses and parents in the same loop, it’ll work.” She explained that to proceed, “we will need to go back to Planning and Zoning, at least on an administrative level, to show the changes we plan to make.”

Given the difficulties at the elementary campus, there are renewed efforts to fully examin e the traffic management plan for the high/middle school campus to make sure that all will run smoothly.

There was a brief update about the elementary playground from Colliers International’s Mr. Mark Schweitzer. The equipment is delayed longer than anticipated and is now expected to be on site on October 10. Schweitzer stressed that “they are trying to get it out here as quickly as possible,” and the design and construction teams are attempting to “see where we can speed things up, where we can get this done and get them off site as soon as possible but have a solid playground at the end.” There are attempts to attract installation workers with overtime and Saturday pay. The timing is critical for the playground surface, which needs temperatures of 40 degrees or above for installation. A plan B is in the works to complete the work in a tent, if needed.

PBC members expressed frustration that O&G representatives were not in a more final stage of either obtaining the elementary school’s Certificate of Occupancy (CO) or understanding what needed to be done to extend the Temporary CO at the time of this meeting. PBC Chair Don Kellogg said, “I’m kind of in a little bit of a state of disbelief that we don’t have direction…about whether we’re going to get an extension, how we get an extension, what needs to be satisfied to get the extension. These were all items that, at the beginning of this month when we opened the d oors, I personally and Paul Boniello also made very clear that we expected you would have lined up.” In response, O&G representatives began listing a series of outstanding items, including security cameras and handrails that need to be installed. Kellogg emphasized that “This needs to be corrected for the high school. I do not want to run into the same problems with the high school.” Town officials stated at the previous meeting that a Temporary CO will not be granted for the high school.

Schweitzer reported that PCB testing was recently completed at Consolidated to prepare for demolition and had mixed findings. It was noted that there are five sections to the building. The results for three sections indicated that the bulk waste needs to leave the state. The section with the highest findings needs to be transported to Ohio at the highest rate. The testing is still pending for the foundation, the complete slab, and the structural steel, which are the three heaviest bulk waste products. These might be able to go out as normal regulated waste at a much more economical rate.

In an update on the high school construction site, O&G’s Mr. Joe Vetro confirmed that PBC member Mr. Mike Del Monaco was “totally right” when he identified that there was a missing control joint in the photos that were shown at the previous meeting and that the problem is being rec tified. Going on, he said that the sheet rock is continuing, as well as the exterior wall. “They will be taking the scaffolding down as soon as the metal panel contractor and the window contractor finish,” he said. In an update on the pool locker room, Vetro said that the bulk of the work is slated to be complete just after Thanksgiving, with students and residents being able to access that space as early as January.

Though the bus lot location is still in litigation, Kellogg walked committee members and meeting attendees through all researched bus lot options, highlighting the alternatives to 304 Ball Pond Road and the reasons the PBC deemed that they were not economical or feasible. He explained that he was giving the recap so that “it’s on the record, if anybody has questions, they can reference this.”

The next regular Permanent Building Committee meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, October 11, at 7:30 p.m.

By Sarah Opdahl