GREENWICH 2011 GOES FOR NEW:  Timing and money are perhaps equally important.  Weston High School was an award winning design back in the late 1960's by TAC (Harvard) and its auditorium looked great still - but the technology and electronics and general wear and tear made it necessary to be upgraded and have the seating replaced.  At right, "About Town" watercolor of the auditorium redo under construction.

A R T S    C E N T E R S    A T    S O U T H W E S T E R N ,    C T .     P U B L I C    H I G H    S C H O O L S

COMMUNITY SUPPORT FOR THE ARTS:


After big public support...from high schoolers and supporters of the arts...
Greenwich "MISA" construction begins and halts.  The the contaminated soils issues arises...S&E controls (c) and (r) pile of contaminated soil and now, nearby fields with PCB taint discovered.

District: Toxic soil cleared from Greenwich High fields
Greenwich TIME
Lisa Chamoff, Staff Writer
Updated 10:46 p.m., Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Work to clear contaminated soil from Greenwich High School's athletic fields has been completed, and some of the seven fields that have been closed since the summer are expected to reopen soon, the district announced Wednesday.

Remediation on artificial turf fields 3 and 4 and grass field 2 was recently finished, according to an update issued by the district. The fields are still closed to the public, pending approval from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to reopen. Fall maintenance is currently being conducted on the grass field, which would likely reopen in the spring.

Discovery of soil contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, forced the school to close all seven of its athletic fields in July. Two fields reopened in October, and Cardinal Stadium has been open since August.

The environmental consultant hired by the town, AECOM, is working on an environmental study of the high school property, and will conduct testing next week, while students are on break. Findings from the study will be incorporated into remediation planning for the site, including preparation of preliminary cost estimates, according to the district. The public will be able to ask questions and comment as the overall remediation project is being designed.

The contamination was discovered during initial work to build a new auditorium and music instruction space at the high school. Leslie Moriarty, chairman of the Board of Education and a member of the building committee for MISA, as the $29 million project is known, said the group is moving forward in planning the project and preparing to go out to bid.

Soil tests have found some contamination in the footprint of the new auditorium. Moriarty said the state needs to review information on the environmental conditions at the auditorium site, and how it impacts construction, before approving the project.

The district's capital budget for 2012-13 includes $600,000 to remove contaminated soil at the site of the new auditorium.

"At this point, as far as we know, that's still a good number," Moriarty said.
Could escalating GHS environmental cleanup tab derail auditorium project?
Neil Vigdor, Staff Writer, Greenwich TIME
Published 11:10 p.m., Monday, October 3, 2011

Insistent upon placing conditions on the release of $17 million for the Greenwich High School auditorium project before it even commenced, budget architects appear increasingly reluctant to open the spigot until the full costs of cleaning up contaminated soil discovered at the site are reckoned.

To date, $3.1 million has been spent on the multi-phase project, according to the town, which earmarked $17 million in the current fiscal year and $12 million next year for the construction of a new auditorium and adjoining music instruction space.

But the project's final price tag is as nebulous as what lies beneath the footprint of the planned performing arts center, one that has roiled budget hawks.

And that, budget architects say, could throw a wrench into the town's carefully modeled capital plan, which also provides $23 million for a new central fire station and $22.5 million for a nursing home renovation, all within the constraints of a newly implemented debt ceiling.

"Then you have to ask the question, does that bump out a major project?" said Stephen Walko, chairman of the Board of Estimate and Taxation.

MISA, as the music instruction space and auditorium project is commonly known, ran into complications this summer when elevated levels of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, were found during prep work on the site.

PCBs are synthetic chemical mixtures that were used in industrial insulation, hydraulic equipment and hundreds of other applications before being banned under the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976. Long-term exposure to PCBs has been linked to damage to the liver and immune system, as well as cancer.

The discovery forced the school to close all seven of its athletic fields and suspend parking privileges for seniors to start the academic year while soil testing and some remediation took place. The parking ban is scheduled to be lifted Monday at the Hillside Road campus. Pending the required environmental approvals, some, but not all, of the fields could reopen this month.

Construction of the auditorium hinges on further soil testing within the footprint of the building itself and the development of a cleanup plan for the site, which must be approved by state and federal environmental regulators and then put out to bid.

"I think the BET is looking to understand the total cost of remediation before releasing additional funds for MISA," Walko said.

The building committee in charge of the project says its goal is to get all the pieces of the puzzle -- soil test results, the cleanup plan and all the necessary approvals and work bids -- in time for the BET's December meeting.

"We're pretty confident that we can do that within a matter of a couple of months to get that information," said Joe Ross, the committee's chairman.

At that time, the committee intends to ask for the release of the remaining $13.9 million budgeted for the project for the current fiscal year.

"If the BET released the money to us in December, we would be ready to start Dec. 26," Ross said of the next phase of the project.

Plans call for AECOM, the same environmental consultant used by the town to do testing of the Cos Cob Power Plant site, to do 18 individual soil borings on the footprint of the planned auditorium.

The firm, which has several offices in Connecticut, will then do a chemical analysis of the soil samples for contaminants and develop a correction action plan in consultation with the state Department of Public Health, state Department of Energy & Environmental Protection and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

"We don't know what the extent is," Ross said of the contamination. "Nobody does."

That also goes for the price tag.

School officials acknowledged that mounting expenses could threaten to derail a project that students and educators have clamored for consistently over the years.

"If it's a huge number, sure, there's limited money," said Steven Anderson, chairman of the Board of Education.

Anderson added that decision makers just want clarity.

"I think one of the things the BET, the town and the Board of Ed want to get comfortable with is, what defines safely remediated?" Anderson said.

Ross stressed that there are two distinct problem areas at the school -- the fields where the contamination was discovered and the actual construction site.

The town asked its environmental consultant to expedite soil testing for the latter so it could forge ahead with construction, according to Ross, who said that the field cleanup should be treated as a separate issue.

"We've tried to bifurcate this problem," Ross said. "There's some people who agreed and there's some people who don't agree. Where we hit this contamination stuff is actually in the fields."

Walko took a similar position.

"It is my opinion that the cost of contamination directly relating to the building of MISA should be an expense of MISA," Walko said. "Conversely, the expenses for the contamination of the fields should be considered a non-MISA capital expense."

If the pieces of the puzzle aren't assembled in time for December, Ross said the committee would shoot for January. He characterized the town as being at the mercy of environmental regulators.

"That's the thing that's not in our control right now," Ross said. "Who knows with those guys? I've got to say, they've been very responsive to the town on this. They were anxious to get the school and fields open and we're hoping that will continue."
RTM approves $1.2 million in cleanup for contaminated soil
Greenwich TIMES
Lisa Chamoff, Staff Writer
Updated 10:37 a.m., Tuesday, September 20, 2011

The Representative Town Meeting voted Monday to approve nearly $1.2 million in funding to finance the cleanup of contaminated soil at Greenwich High School and replenish funds that have already been spent from the school's auditorium project budget in response to toxins found on school property.

RTM Moderator Pro Tempore Joan Caldwell said Tuesday morning that the $1.2 million was approved by the Board of Estimate and Taxation last week, and will come from the town's capital non-recurring expense account.

"That sum isn't going to set us very far back," Caldwell said. "However, this money is ... for further investigation. If any of those test borings come up positive, then the price for remediation climbs."

Caldwell said 152 RTM members voted in favor of the expenditure, but she couldn't immediately remember how many were opposed. The vote was the last of the evening.

"It was explained to us as something that we have to do, Caldwell said.

The cleanup plan includes removing contaminated soil in four areas around the fields, and then replacing it with clean fill. The public will then be allowed to access that area of the site. Eves said the Environmental Protection AAgency is currently reviewing the request and will issue a written response in a few days.

The town is reviewing remediation options for turf fields 3 and 4, and developing plans for grass fields 2 and 5. District officials expect fields 2 and 5 will be open in time for spring sports.

In the west parking lot, the piles of contaminated soil have been removed. Tests on the asphalt underneath did not find any residual PCB contamination, according to Eves. If the EPA gives approval, district officials expect to reopen the parking lot to students within two weeks.

Last Monday, the Board of Estimate and Taxation authorized the release of funding that will go toward remediation work and the testing of deep soil at the school.

The money will be separate from funding for the music instruction and auditorium project, known as MISA, which had just gotten under way when workers discovered the contamination in July.

Joseph Ross, chairman of the MISA building committee, said his group took the lead on the environmental issues over the summer because they already had contractors on site. Contractors discovered the contamination while undertaking work to expand the school's western parking lot and dig a trench for an irrigation line for the MISA project.

"The building committee did what it had to do over the summer," Ross said. "We're stepping back."
PCBs detected in soil at GHS fields
Greenwich TIME
Lisa Chamoff, Staff Writer
Updated 10:24 p.m., Friday, August 12, 2011

Additional tests have turned up contaminated soil at or near four of Greenwich High School's athletic fields, including the baseball and softball fields, district officials said on Friday.

The tests found polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, exceeding "the most restrictive levels" along the right outfield line of softball field 5, where it borders turf field 4, the outfield of baseball field 2 and the west side of turf field 3, according to a statement released by the district Friday afternoon.

About 75 percent of the PCBs detected to date have been located in the soil beneath the grassy area between the west parking lot and turf fields 3 and 4, officials said. That is near where work was being done over the summer to expand the parking lot in the back of the school, in advance of construction of a new auditorium and music instruction space.

The work was stopped a few weeks ago after the contaminated soil was discovered by construction workers. The athletic fields were then closed after PCBs at higher-than-acceptable levels were found in soil samples taken from a grassy area between the back parking lot and two fields.  A Significant Environmental Hazard report will be filed with state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection as a result of one soil sample that "exceeds the stated reporting levels," with a PCB level of 53 milligrams per kilogram, the district said. This soil was taken from within the fenced-in construction zone where toxins were previously found.

District officials did not elaborate on what the report will entail, and no one could be reached for further comment Friday.  DEEP spokesman Dennis Schain, reached Friday afternoon, said he could not find anyone from the department who could comment on the report.

Some of the 161 soil samples were taken down to 1 foot in depth, and others were taken to 3 feet in depth, according to the district. The most recent tests mainly focused on PCBs, but another round of testing will include other contaminants.  Based on the most recent test results, PCBs were not detected in the soil around the football stadium and tennis courts.

The fields at the high school will remain closed until further notice, though according to district officials, if the initial test results are confirmed, it might soon be possible to gain access to the Cardinal Stadium field and tennis courts, followed by fields 6 and 7.

"The decision to open a field will be based on input from officials from the offices of the U.S. EPA, state DEEP and Connecticut Department of Public Health, which are working with the BOE's Licensed Environmental Professional consultant in developing testing protocols and interpreting test results," the district said in its statement.

District and town officials are also working together to create contingency plans, if they are needed, for the high school's physical education program and extra-curricular and interscholastic sports groups that use the fields.  Rich Albonizio, the head football coach at GHS, said he was glad to hear that the main football field was likely to reopen soon. Football practice begins Aug. 22.

"A lot of parents have been inquiring," Albonizio said. "They didn't know what was going on. A lot of people make plans and work around practices. It's good to know that we can stick to our plan."

The freshmen football team usually practices on fields 6 and 7, Albonizio said. There could be a squeeze if two of the artificial-turf fields remain closed, though Albonizio said coaches are used to negotiating for playing time.

"We all try to cooperate with each other and whatever's available, we work around each other," Albonizio said. "If (fields) 3 and 4 are not available, we have to sit down and make different times. We'd all have to work around each other's schedules."

The school's baseball and softball teams don't use the fields until spring. Baseball coach Michael Mora referred all questions to GHS Athletic Director Gus Lindine, but his office is closed for the summer, and he did not immediately return a message seeking comment Friday.  Rob Spaeth, president of the town's George M. Weiss Senior Babe Ruth baseball league, said his team of 16- to 18-year-olds uses the high school baseball diamond three to four times a week from May to July.

While Spaeth said he won't have to worry about use of the field until next year, he is concerned that the toxic material was found beneath the school's baseball field.

"It gives me a little concern," Spaeth said. "I just don't know how dangerous that might be. But obviously they have to do what's best for everybody and err on the side of caution."

The district's environmental evaluation plan for the school property includes comprehensive testing of soil on the surface and farther down at the construction site and on the fields in order to determine the extent of the contamination, the district said.  A historical evaluation of the high school property, which might explain how the soil came to be contaminated, is also part of the plan. The district's statement said the report is "nearing completion."

Speaking about the GHS soil contamination this week, town Conservation Director Denise Savageau said since the school was built on wetlands, which years ago people used as dumping grounds, it is not surprising that contaminated soil was discovered. PCBs were also commonly used in many materials, such as asphalt, before the federal government banned their production in 1979.

"In terms of filling wetlands, you will find around the state, schools are built on wetlands," Savageau said. "This is certainly not the first school in Connecticut where they've found contaminated soil."
PCBs detected in soil at GHS fields
Greenwich TIME
Lisa Chamoff, Staff Writer
Updated 10:24 p.m., Friday, August 12, 2011

Additional tests have turned up contaminated soil at or near four of Greenwich High School's athletic fields, including the baseball and softball fields, district officials said on Friday.

The tests found polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, exceeding "the most restrictive levels" along the right outfield line of softball field 5, where it borders turf field 4, the outfield of baseball field 2 and the west side of turf field 3, according to a statement released by the district Friday afternoon.

About 75 percent of the PCBs detected to date have been located in the soil beneath the grassy area between the west parking lot and turf fields 3 and 4, officials said. That is near where work was being done over the summer to expand the parking lot in the back of the school, in advance of construction of a new auditorium and music instruction space.

The work was stopped a few weeks ago after the contaminated soil was discovered by construction workers. The athletic fields were then closed after PCBs at higher-than-acceptable levels were found in soil samples taken from a grassy area between the back parking lot and two fields.

A Significant Environmental Hazard report will be filed with state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection as a result of one soil sample that "exceeds the stated reporting levels," with a PCB level of 53 milligrams per kilogram, the district said. This soil was taken from within the fenced-in construction zone where toxins were previously found.

District officials did not elaborate on what the report will entail, and no one could be reached for further comment Friday.

DEEP spokesman Dennis Schain, reached Friday afternoon, said he could not find anyone from the department who could comment on the report.

Some of the 161 soil samples were taken down to 1 foot in depth, and others were taken to 3 feet in depth, according to the district. The most recent tests mainly focused on PCBs, but another round of testing will include other contaminants.

Based on the most recent test results, PCBs were not detected in the soil around the football stadium and tennis courts.

The fields at the high school will remain closed until further notice, though according to district officials, if the initial test results are confirmed, it might soon be possible to gain access to the Cardinal Stadium field and tennis courts, followed by fields 6 and 7.

"The decision to open a field will be based on input from officials from the offices of the U.S. EPA, state DEEP and Connecticut Department of Public Health, which are working with the BOE's Licensed Environmental Professional consultant in developing testing protocols and interpreting test results," the district said in its statement.

District and town officials are also working together to create contingency plans, if they are needed, for the high school's physical education program and extra-curricular and interscholastic sports groups that use the fields.

Rich Albonizio, the head football coach at GHS, said he was glad to hear that the main football field was likely to reopen soon. Football practice begins Aug. 22.

"A lot of parents have been inquiring," Albonizio said. "They didn't know what was going on. A lot of people make plans and work around practices. It's good to know that we can stick to our plan."

The freshmen football team usually practices on fields 6 and 7, Albonizio said. There could be a squeeze if two of the artificial-turf fields remain closed, though Albonizio said coaches are used to negotiating for playing time.

"We all try to cooperate with each other and whatever's available, we work around each other," Albonizio said. "If (fields) 3 and 4 are not available, we have to sit down and make different times. We'd all have to work around each other's schedules."

The school's baseball and softball teams don't use the fields until spring. Baseball coach Michael Mora referred all questions to GHS Athletic Director Gus Lindine, but his office is closed for the summer, and he did not immediately return a message seeking comment Friday.

Rob Spaeth, president of the town's George M. Weiss Senior Babe Ruth baseball league, said his team of 16- to 18-year-olds uses the high school baseball diamond three to four times a week from May to July.

While Spaeth said he won't have to worry about use of the field until next year, he is concerned that the toxic material was found beneath the school's baseball field.

"It gives me a little concern," Spaeth said. "I just don't know how dangerous that might be. But obviously they have to do what's best for everybody and err on the side of caution."

The district's environmental evaluation plan for the school property includes comprehensive testing of soil on the surface and farther down at the construction site and on the fields in order to determine the extent of the contamination, the district said.

A historical evaluation of the high school property, which might explain how the soil came to be contaminated, is also part of the plan. The district's statement said the report is "nearing completion."

Speaking about the GHS soil contamination this week, town Conservation Director Denise Savageau said since the school was built on wetlands, which years ago people used as dumping grounds, it is not surprising that contaminated soil was discovered. PCBs were also commonly used in many materials, such as asphalt, before the federal government banned their production in 1979.

"In terms of filling wetlands, you will find around the state, schools are built on wetlands," Savageau said. "This is certainly not the first school in Connecticut where they've found contaminated soil."
BET approves more than $1M to address contaminated soil at high school
Greenwich TIME
Lisa Chamoff, Staff Writer
Updated 07:26 a.m., Friday, August 5, 2011

The Board of Estimate and Taxation voted Thursday night to release $1.3 million from the Greenwich High School auditorium project to address contaminated soil found last month during a parking lot expansion.

An additional $152,000 for environmental testing will have to come from the school district, with BET members deciding that soil testing of the high school's athletic fields, which were closed last week after soil with high levels of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, was found nearby, was not part of the auditorium and music classroom construction project, known as MISA.

Joseph Ross, chairman of the MISA Building Committee, presented the list of costs to the BET.

Of the total amount, $740,000 comes from carting away approximately 830 tons of soil contaminated with PCBs, along with a 2,600-ton pile of topsoil that also was found to be contaminated, though the smaller pile has a greater concentration of the toxic substances, about 50 parts per million.

The estimated cost of environmental testing originally put forth by Ross has doubled.

Costs also include bringing in more than 3,000 tons of clean fill and topsoil, resealing and marking the parking area and installing temporary lighting and security cameras.

Much of the finance board's discussion centered on whether the school district should shoulder some of the burden, since the contaminated soil found near the athletic fields was considered by some members to be an issue separate from MISA.

BET Chairman Stephen Walko said he thought testing the athletic fields was outside the scope of MISA.

BET member William Finger said he was "troubled" that the soil issue was being attributed to the auditorium project.

"We are where we are because MISA is doing everything right," Finger said. "There's been a lot of work done at the high school. It could very well have been contractors ignored dark soil before."

Superintendent of Schools Sidney Freund said after the BET vote that the Board of Education will have to approve the transfer of funds for the testing at a special meeting in the next couple of weeks.

"I'm going to defer to the BET on that. That's not my decision," Freund said of the debate about what costs should be shouldered by MISA and what was the district's responsibility. "The important thing is the work gets done."

Some people have questioned whether soil testing should have been done before any work for the project started. Ross said earlier this week that soil borings were done to see how much water and rock was on the property, and that environmental testing could have been done at that time, but wasn't.

Environmental testing is not likely to end at the west end of the school, where the contaminated soil was originally discovered. The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and the federal Environmental Protection Agency could require testing of the soil on the portion of the property where the new auditorium is being constructed, near the gymnasium and science wing of the high school, Ross told the BET.

At one point during the meeting, Walko questioned the future of MISA.

"Are we sitting on a site where it simply becomes cost prohibitive to do the auditorium project?" Walko asked.
Auditorium project unearths contaminated soil at Greenwich High
Lisa Chamoff, Greenwich TIME Staff Writer
Updated 12:14 a.m., Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Construction of a new auditorium at Greenwich High School has hit another roadblock, with contaminated soil found during excavation work in the parking lot behind the school just a couple of weeks after the district broke ground on the $29 million project.

Board of Education Vice Chairman Leslie Moriarty, a member of the building committee for the music instruction space and auditorium project, known as MISA, said during work to expand the western parking lot and dig a trench for an irrigation line, construction workers found soil that was a darker color than the surrounding dirt.

Initial testing revealed traces of lead, arsenic and barium, as well as polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, and petroleum hydrocarbon. Some of the levels were slightly above the most stringent requirements for groundwater quality, Moriarty said.

Moriarty said all work in that area of the site was stopped, the excavated soil was covered and state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and local officials were notified. Additional testing was conducted, with results expected in the next few days.

The impact the discovery will have on the project's budget and schedule is not yet known, Moriarty said.

"There is an issue that is being aggressively analyzed and tested to understand what needs to be done," Moriarty said. "We don't know if we have a problem, and if we do have a problem what the extent of the problem is. Do we need to remediate? There are still a lot of questions to be answered."

About $3 million in contingency costs are built into the project's $29 million budget, but any costs for environmental issues would likely not come from the contingency fund, Moriarty said.

"There is a contingency that was identified at the time the budget was established for the summer site work, but that contingency was intended to address construction issues, not environmental issues," Moriarty said. "We do need to better understand what the potential cost for this will be."

Work on the west lot was scheduled to be completed by mid-August. Moriarty said the building committee needs to start developing a contingency plan for the delay, perhaps continuing the work in a smaller footprint during the school year.

On Friday, Superintendent of Schools Sidney Freund sent a letter to staff members and parents of students attending summer school at the high school to inform them of the discovery of "unexpected soil conditions."

"Initial soil tests have been completed and the results have not revealed any evidence of health hazards," Freund wrote. "We are conducting an additional level of testing and expect the results early next week."

"While we have not yet received any evidence of a health hazard, we take any potentially adverse environmental conditions seriously," Freund continued. "In an effort to be proactive, we will conduct environmental testing throughout the time frame of the Greenwich High School MISA project. We will also continue to communicate information on the project periodically and/or as necessary."

The letter did not detail which specific contaminants were discovered at the site.

School Board Chairman Steven Anderson said officials decided it made sense to first inform those for whom the soil contamination has the most immediate impact.

"You first are going to address the people who are using the school right now," Anderson said.

State DEEP spokesman Dennis Schain could not confirm that Greenwich officials contacted the agency about the soil, but said the state agency has expertise on soil contamination issues, and would work with the district if clean up efforts are needed.

"There are clear guidelines and policies that would speak to how to proceed given different findings," Schain said. "There is always some metals in soils. They occur naturally, so you really need to see what is there. The key is to take it step by step."

The MISA project has been criticized by some residents and town officials for its high cost, and there has been concern about complications that could arise because the work is taking place on swamp land.

First Selectman Peter Tesei said he learned about the soil issues after he was forwarded Freund's letter on Friday.

"In terms of their moving forward, I think they're doing the necessary things they must do to comply with all the various environmental regulations," Tesei said. "That's really part of any project -- you're going to encounter unforeseen things ... I don't see it as a major impediment."

The soil discovery is the latest issue with the long-awaited project. Just before work began July 1, the town's Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Commission ruled that the district must install a special drainage system on the south end of campus to spare 18 more mature trees than the project's building committee had planned, which increased the cost of the project by about $50,000. That came after Tree Warden Bruce Spaman ruled that the town would not approve the project unless the district replaced the 121 trees it had planned to remove with 180 new ones.

The MISA work comes after a series of cost overruns and delays plagued the renovation of Hamilton Avenue School. Closed in 2005 because of long-standing mold and structural problems, the school was supposed to have been rebuilt within 18 months. Instead, the project took more than three years to complete, causing overall costs to swell by $2.2 million, leaving the overall price tag at more than $31.1 million.

Moriarty said the issues that have come up with MISA are different.

"This project is structured differently and managed differently, so those issues won't be repeated in this project," Moriarty said.
School officials, students rejoice over MISA decision
Greenwich TIME
Julie Ruth, Staff Writer
Published 11:15 p.m., Friday, April 1, 2011

As the Board of Estimate and Taxation deliberated over the budget in Town Hall on Thursday night, an overflow audience packed the auditorium two miles away at Greenwich High School to hear Eastern Middle School students perform their spring concert.

At 8:40 p.m., just after the choir finished a song, a man familiar to most people in the audience unexpectedly walked onto the stage and took the microphone.

"I have just come from a miracle!" Jeffrey Spector, the Greenwich Public Schools district-wide coordinator for music and art, announced.

Immediately the audience understood he had brought good news from the Board of Estimate and Taxation meeting, Spector said. On Thursday, Greenwich High School tentatively secured $17 million for a new 1,325-seat auditorium, the fruit of last minute horse trading by First Selectman Peter Tesei.

Tesei brokered a deal with fellow Republicans on the BET to delay construction on a new $24.1 million central fire station until the 2014 fiscal year and spread the cost of the nearly $29 million music instruction space and auditorium project, known as MISA, over two years. The 230-member Representative Town Meeting will now evaluate the proposal and vote on it at its May meeting.

"The whole audience burst into applause like you've never heard it for two solid minutes," Spector said Friday, estimating there were 1,000 parents, grandparents and friends of the 400 middle school performers there that night. "They didn't have to be told what it was -- they knew."

Spector looked out at the audience and wiped his eyes with a hankerchief, unable to control his emotions.

"We thought we had lost it," Spector said. "It was one of those special moments that don't come very often."

Thursday night's decision took many students, parents, teachers and administrators by surprise.

"It's a good surprise," said BOE Chairman Steve Anderson, who was pleased that various factions within town government -- the first selectman, the BET, Republicans and Democrats -- had come together to support the project.

GHS sophomore Jamie Kyle, a baritone with the school choir, said he is thrilled the school is a step closer to getting a better-sounding auditorium. Students echoed Spector in saying the upgrade is much needed because the auditorium has poor acoustics, is often overheated and does not have the capacity to fit the entire school population during assemblies.

"A lot of times we can't sing soft because you can hear the air conditioning in the background during our performances," Kyle said. "With the new auditorium, we will be able to sing as soft as we want, and it will travel throughout the whole auditorium."

Spector said one of the biggest problems with the auditorium was in glaring evidence Thursday night.

"The halls were packed to the rafters. People were sitting on the floor. There wasn't enough room for everyone."

Anderson said the next step is for the building committee to meet Tuesday to work on a plan to get Phase 1 of the project within the proposed $17 million figure.

The BOE will lead the effort to educate the public through informational forums, which may be part of regularly scheduled board meetings, or in addition to them.

"Our goal is to make sure everyone gets the same set of facts," Anderson said.

Anderson said there have been "misstatements and misinformation" about the project.

"We aren't building Carnegie Hall," he said. "We're building a quality music instructional space, not an over-the-top project."
Republican attacks MISA funding decision
Greenwich TIME
Frank MacEachern, Staff Writer
Updated 11:12 p.m., Friday, April 1, 2011

A Republican member of the Representative Town Meeting accused First Selectman Peter Tesei, a fellow Republican, of "caving in" to public pressure in supporting a controversial high school auditorium project ahead of a new downtown fire station.

Edward Dadakis, District 1/South Central, said Tesei's crafting of a compromise that enabled the Board of Estimate and Taxation on Thursday to fund the Greenwich High School music instruction space and auditorium project, but push back funding construction of a new central fire station headquarters, places the downtown area at a greater fire risk.

"I am very concerned that by caving in to the MISA (Music Instructional Space and Auditorium) pressure, he has left the central Greenwich district a little more vulnerable," Dadakis said. "This is not the fire protection I believe the central business district should have."

The BET voted to fund $17 million of the $28.8 million school project, with the balance budgeted for the 2012-13 fiscal year. The compromise, crafted by Tesei to overcome the debt concerns of Republican BET members, would delay construction of a new $24.1 million central fire station until the 2014 fiscal year.

Tesei shot back, accusing Dadakis of playing politics.

"His real frustration is that he doesn't want (MISA)," Tesei said. "He wants to find a way to divide and conquer on the whole matter. I understand it as a political strategy. I don't understand it as a political leader who is addressing broad-based needs."

Dadakis also accused Tesei of flip-flopping on the issue, saying the first selectman originally supported the central fire station as the top priority before switching and backing MISA instead.

"He was leading the support for the fire station, but then at the last minute he flip-flops," Dadakisa said. "I am not sure he is wrong, but I am disappointed we as a community will not have a discussion on the priorities."

It's Dadakis who has flip-flopped, Tesei said. The town's chief elected official said he looked at the RTM voting cards for the 2010 budget vote and saw that Dadakis had voted against funding the fire station construction.

"At the time, he did not support the full funding of the fire headquarters," Tesei said. "It's nice that he is now concerned about it, and I welcome him on board."

Dadakis agrees with Tesei -- to a point. He said he and his fellow RTM members didn't vote to fund the construction of the central fire station last year because all of the details hadn't been hammered out.

"I voted to fund $750,000 to continue to study the fire station. Peter wanted $23 million or thereabouts, but the project wasn't fleshed out," Dadakis said. "Now a year later, he still hasn't fleshed it out."

Tesei said the MISA project is "shovel ready" because it has already received all necessary land-use approvals. That's not the case with the central fire house project, he said.

"I don't think Ed has an understanding of all the facts surrounding the two projects," Tesei said.

Dadakis said he isn't opposed to MISA. Rather, he questions the decision "to put a project of this size on a credit card. The reality is that everybody has favored improvements in the auditorium. It really has been a question of timing, financing and project scope."

Fellow RTM member Karen Fassuliotis, a Republican District 7/North Center member, also shared Dadakis' concerns about MISA.

"I appreciate (the BET's) compromise, but I still think it is a high price tag for something that at the end of the day is a high school auditorium," she said.

She and Dadakis said the more urgent need is the central fire station, which Dadakis called uninhabitable.

"I wish the PTA would go and look at the conditions the fire station has to work under," Fassuliotis said.

The Parent Teacher Association Council and the high school PTA lobbied strongly for MISA.

The town's outstanding debt load of $89 million would go up to $105 million in the upcoming fiscal year under the compromise, which calls for $17 million in borrowing for the auditorium and $15.6 million in borrowing for other projects.

A preliminary vote on the project by the BET's Budget Committee ended in a deadlock along party lines in early March, with Democrats supporting the expenditure and Republicans opposed because of its short-term debt implications.

The first phase of the project would culminate with the construction of a 1,325-seat auditorium, replacing an 860-seat facility that can only hold a third of student body and is plagued by poor acoustics.

The second phase calls for the demolition of the existing auditorium, with the site being used for music classrooms and instruction space.

The RTM will vote on the town's proposed $357 million budget at its May 9 meeting.

Tesei believes the RTM will approve the budget.

"I have heard from many RTM members and I think the majority will be in accord with the plan as presented by the BET," Tesei said.


2007 IS WHEN THE "SEAT CAMPAIGN" STARTED
First Selectman Woody Bliss managed to inspire the Town of Weston to vote yet again at a Special Town Meeting to move funds from the Performing Arts Center (addition to the middle school) to a new project to renovate the 40 year old high school auditorium.  Residents were inspired by WestonArts and raised funds from individual Westonites to supplement the referendum money remaining and the auditorium at the high school got a beautiful makeover.
NEVER BUILT
Competition Finale...January 31, 2004: 
A great event for the Weston community - no "losers" in this group of architects--thank you so much for participating!
Thank you Weston Library for having just the right space for this event (Community Room addition). Winner!


PROLOGUE (1)
Entrance to Community Room at Weston Library @8:30am Saturday, January 31, 2004.  (Stanley Bleifeld sculpture above doorway.)

LEFT (2)
As the finale of the competition began early in the morning Saturday, the first group, "ARO" set up and presented their idea for Beineke Library-like structure (but lower in height), or perhaps more like the Whitney Museum?  Building wraps around auditorium/performance space--all elements of program appear "there."  Fairly close to budget plus Weston Education foundation pledge.

CENTER (3)
"Office dA" had two schemes--the "ultimate" product, with many special features, and a modest one.  Their presentation was extraordinarily complete and detailed;  "About Town" loved the depth of development displayed, links to other arcitecturally historic spaces.  Complex and subtle and very serious entry.

RIGHT (4)
"TEN Arquitectos" was, in my opinion, the most dramatic, inspiring, and symbolic of creating a NEW WESTON as a result of all the school-field projects.  Like Brasilia, the new-town capitol of that country, the architecture here by TEN makes a strong modern statement.  (A number of us in the audience REALLY, REALLY felt this was the right choice.)



Winning design:  Architectural Research Office ("ARO") of N.Y.C.
Stephen Cassell, Partner, ARO, did main presentation;  consultants on theatre design, acoustics present at Finale.


Street-scape.
Students, teachers and just plain walkers walk from southwest between high school and middle school...now in view...a new, really large sugar maple identifies that you have arrived at Weston's new building, part of our PERFORMING & CREATIVE ARTS CENTER!


Trees.
I thought "these guys got the feeling of Weston!"  BIG TREES COUNT FOR A LOT HERE!  (NOTE:  Model below in shadow is on display at Weston Library and will be at SPEAK UP (along with all boards and the other two architecture firms' drawings and models)...


The 450 seat auditorium.  Of the three competitors, ARO stayed closest to budget for the whole project of $4.3 million ($3.1 from Referendum).  Circulation from the several sources of traffic (i.e. from the W.M.S. wing closest to the project site;  from the pool area;  from the street and outside parking [community access]) most clearly defined here.

"Front" and "back" entries sheltered from outside by wrapping of low-angle, simple walls that are themselves an artistic element - having tiny "windows" in various spots (up high) letting in darts of light (like the Whitney Museum).  It is interesting to me that the buildings this solution called up to me were more subtly designed intellectual centers in America (Whitney, Menil Collection [pavillion look], and of course, Beineke Library at Yale.)