Diana Stricker Photo
It appears there will be at least another hurricane season and a winter’s worth of snow before a new public works building gets off the ground.
The effort to build a permanent home for the Department of Public Works remains in limbo as the Board of Selectmen grapple with what type of committee should oversee the project. Public Works is now in a rental facility.
While First Selectman Anthony “Unk” DaRos had hoped to finalize a location for a new public works building — a project that has been under discussion and debate for the last three years — before he leaves office at the end of the year, the reality is otherwise.
It will be up the next administration to move public works forward, he said.
DaRos, who is retiring, said that major decisions regarding public works won’t likely be made before the November election. “One of you three are probably going to have to deal with this,” he said. Vying for DaRos’s position are Democratic candidate Second Selectman Andy Campbell, Republican candidate Third Selectman James Cosgrove (pictured above) and independent candidate Jacey Wyatt.
DaRos is now suggesting the formation of a standing building committee to oversee all town projects. He said there is a need for one committee because of the proposed public works building, the long-discussed senior center, and the Board of Education “jumping into the fray” with proposals for two major school building renovations.
“There’s a much bigger picture to look at,” DaRos said during the Board of Selectman (BOS) meeting Wednesday night.
In addition, DaRos said it is time to disband the public works committee, which was tasked with finding a site to build the public works facility. “They’ve done their job and they’ve done it well,” he said. “I think we owe them a debt of gratitude.”
DaRos also said that the town’s newest public works director started work Tuesday. He is Tom Brennan, who lives in Branford. Art Baker, the former director, resigned to take another position in his hometown in February and his successor stepped down after his three month probationary period ended.
Since the public works committee was formed in the fall of 2010, they twice selected the 77-acre town-owned Tabor property as the site for public works, and the BOS voted 2 – 1 to build it there. But the project became stalled and was not sent to the Board of Finance or the Representative Town Meeting (RTM) and without approval from those boards the Tabor selection was essentially dead. Some members of the RTM, on the both sides of the aisle, opposed the Tabor site.
Cosgrove voted against it at the BOS level. Following public outcry from Tabor neighbors, DaRos found another possible site on Ivy Street. Since May, the town has been looking at a 7.3. acre site at 142 Ivy St. owned by Alex Vigliotti, the builder, through his Ivy Street LLC corporation; and a .08-acre site and building at 132 Ivy owned by Premier Realty Holdings, the Premium Subaru dealership which is across Ivy Street. While the site is 7.3 acres in actuality it is more like 4.5 to 5 acres because of wetlands on the site.
DaRos told the Eagle in a previous interview that the Subaru group pulled out of consideration last month in part because they needed the land for their own needs. DaRos said the consulting firm of Weston & Sampson Engineers Inc. was examining how much usable acreage was viable on the remaining site, which also has wetlands.
Before the consultant’s report arrived, DaRos said in an interview: “It is not a matter of selecting the site anymore; it is a matter of building the building. The only thing we are waiting for is the (latest) design to see how the building will fit on Vigliotti’s property. That is all we are waiting for.”
The selectmen received the consultant’s preliminary report this week, which indicated it would now be a tight fit to locate the building there. DaRos said at the meeting that it may still be possible to build there, but more information would be needed,
Forming A Standing Building Committee
DaRos suggested a motion to disband the committee, but none was ever made. Neither was a motion made regarding the possibility of a standing building committee.
Campbell said that after reading the consultant’s report about the Ivy Street property, he is skeptical that keeping the committee intact would be beneficial. “I have questions…whether this is a viable committee going forward,” Campbell said, adding that he spoke to committee members regarding the matter.
Campbell said he favors forming a standing building committee because of the number of buildings being proposed and the “exorbitant” amount of money involved.
Additionally, Campbell said he would like a Public Works Commission to be established to oversee the department and the building project. He said the RTM has been discussing the issue.
Cosgrove said he has always favored the establishment of a standing building committee. “That’s definitely something I support and have been advocating for quite some time,” he said. However, he disagreed with disbanding the public works committee.
At the previous BOS meeting, Cosgrove suggested putting Linda Reed and Fred Russo on the committee in part because the committee was having trouble getting a quorum at some meetings.
Russo, who heads the Stop Tabor movement, has been vehement in his opposition to Tabor as a location for the public works building. He would not be an unbiased member of the committee, he readily concedes.
Cosgrove said that Reed withdrew her name from consideration, but he again made a motion Wednesday to put Russo on the committee. He suggested keeping the public works committee, stating it will take time to form a standing building committee.
“You’re looking at several months of time where nothing is moving forward.” He said there are viable sites for the facility. “Let’s continue to move forward and find a site. I’m opposed to disbanding.”
The motion to appoint Russo failed by a 2 – 1 vote, with Cosgrove casting the only yes vote. DaRos said he voted no because Russo has said his goal was to make sure the Tabor site was not selected. DaRos said the only reason Russo wanted to be on the committee was not to pick a site but to make sure one site does not get picked. Campbell did not give a reason for his vote.
Russo told the New Haven Register in a recent article that that he would end his continuing protest and return to playing with his grandchildren if he got the spot on the building committee and succeeded in keeping the building off the Tabor site.
“Potty” Committee
However, one new committee did receive the unanimous support of all three selectmen. They voted to establish an ad hoc Stony Creek Facilities Committee. DaRos said the committee will be tasked with purchasing the post office property in Stony Creek and converting half of it into public restrooms for tourists who come to the seaside village. They would also oversee renovations.
“It’s a long complicated procedure and these people are dedicated to it,” DaRos said as he read the list of names, all of whom have been working for years to make the project a reality. He has frequently referred to the portable potties on the beach as “torture chambers,” especially in the summer heat.
The committee will include: Sandy Fischer; Greg Ames; Dan Bullard; Stan Fisher; Michael Pascucilla, the health director; town engineer Janice Plaziak; and Alex Paluzzi, head of the recreation department.
The town was recently awarded a $500,000 state grant toward the purchase of the building. Click here to read that story.
Marcia Chambers contributed reporting to this story.
