Sam Gurwitt Photo
Hamden Public School Chief Operating Officer Tom Ariola and Superintendent Jody Goeler.
Though the state denied an extension for construction at the West Woods School in Hamden two weeks ago, the state remains committed to helping the town with construction costs at some point, Hamden officials announced on Wednesday.
Superintendent Jody Goeler and other town officials met with the state Office of School Construction Grants and Review (OSCG&R) Monday to discuss the future of the school. Earlier this month, the state notified Goeler that it had pulled a $15 million grant for the construction of a new school because the town missed the Oct. 31 deadline to begin construction.
“The most important information obtained from this meeting is that the West Woods Construction project is still viable and will likely continue to be considered as a priority construction project by the State,” Goeler wrote in an update Wednesday.
In 2017, Hamden secured a grant from the state to rebuild the West Woods School at another site on the property. The grant approval triggered a two-year shovels-in-the-ground deadline.
When the state notified the town that it was not extending that two-year deadline, it indicated that the town must look into potential water intrusion issues at the school. Last week, Hamden hired GeoInsight to conduct a study of water intrusion.
Goeler said that the town and state will determine how to proceed once that study is complete.
“Everything right now hinges on us getting that hydrogeological study done,” he said. He said the study will determine whether it makes sense to renovate the school, if the water intrusion issues can be fixed, or if it would be best to build a new school on a drier site.
If the water intrusion problems at the existing site cannot be fixed, Goeler said, it would not be prudent to make renovations. “The state and town would be concerned about putting money into a project that ultimately is going to bring us to the same situation with a wet school,” he said.
OSCG&R Director Konstantinos Diamantis told the Independent that Hamden will have to apply for new grants once it has come up with a new plan.
“When the time comes, they will submit a new application with a project that is doable,” he said, “and when they submit such a project, it will proceed through the process accordingly.”
The two-year deadline, he said, will still apply. “When the town is ready to proceed on the project, we will be right there with them to assist them. Until then, they don’t get a nickel.”
