At a Permanent Building Committee (PBC) Special Meeting on Tuesday, January 18, there was a unanimous vote to approve funding for revising the plans for a bus lot on the current Consolidated School property. Though a bus lot in this location was denied by the town’s Zoning Commission on July 9, 2021, the PBC is moving forward with a plan to resubmit the location to the Commission with alterations.

JCJ Architecture’s Ms. Christine O’Hare showed the latest plans, saying “it’s the same design essentially as we had previously. However, the entire bus lot was shifted further away from Ball Pond Road by about 15 feet, so it was pushed back as far as we could kind of get it with the slope of the land.” She went on to say that the revised plan includes a new exit onto Gillotti Road, “we had to do some modifications in order to add the drive…that goes over to Gillotti. The idea here was we were trying to minimize the amount of traffic that was coming in and out of Ball Pond Road.” She explained that there would be a one-way circulation for the buses in and out of this site.

O’Hare noted that improvements that were added during the Zoning Commission process, such as additional screening with fencing and pl antings, will be included in the revised plan. When asked about the building on the site, she explained that it will be approximately 20 x 20 feet and will include an office space and a restroom.

There was also a brief discussion about the funding for the plan revisions and preparation to submit the work to the Zoning Commission, which will be completed for additional fees by JCJ Architecture. There will also be approximately $25K in additional construction fees accrued for the new exit. It was also noted that, before re-submitting the project to the Commission, modifications will need to be made to the traffic report, and work will need to be completed with the Town Engineer Mr. Tony Iadarola to make any modifications that are required to the stormwater calculations.

New Fairfield Public School’s Director of Business and Operations Dr. Richard Sanzo pointed out that all appropriate team members should work to, not only resubmit materials to the Commission, but should plan to include information about some of the alternative options that were investigated, particularly those at the high school.

Two members of the public spoke out against the plan to pursue the lot at the current Consolidated site. Ms. Deborah Mangini said that she is “quite disappointed that we’re going down this route again,” while Mr. Colin Stange said, “I just want to make sure that my opposition is on reco rd.”

The Permanent Building Committee will have met again on Tuesday, January 26. Their next regular meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, February 8, 7:30 p.m.

By Sarah Opdahl