The Fairfield Hills Authority held a regular meeting on Wednesday, August 15, 2007 in the meeting room at Town Hall South, Main Street, Newtown, CT. Andrew Willie called the meeting to order at 7:38 p.m.
Present: Andrew Willie, Michael Holmes, Don Studley, Walter Motyka, Julia Wasserman. Bob Geckle arrived at 8:05 p.m.
Absent: Moira Rodgers, Amy Dent, John Reed.
Also Present: Ed Marks (Parks & Rec.), Dave Cravanzola (O&G), Maria DeMarco (DeMarco Management), 3 Members of the public and one member of the press.
Public Participation: Ruby Johnson wanted to bring to the Authority’s attention that the Fairfield Hills Authority meetings are now being held on the third Wednesday of every month and it will conflict with the Legislative Council meetings that are held on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of every month. Ms. Johnson also informed the Authority that she had a hand out for anyone that wanted one.
Ms. Johnson also discussed the possibility of a restaurant going into Stamford Hall. She mentioned that some of the “Town’s people” that she questioned about this said that they would like an inexpensive restaurant. She would also like a discussion with the restaurant owners from the town to get some feedback from them.
Acceptance of Minutes: The acceptance of the minutes was tabled until the arrival of Bob Geckle so there could be a quorum. Andrew Willie made a motion to approve the minutes from July 17, 2007 seconded by Bob Geckle.
Financial: Mr. Studley’s handed out the current operating expense and capital budget status as of 7/07 (Attached).
OPERATING: Maria DeMarco (DeMarco Management) will follow up on the pet ordinance status with the legislative council.
Ms. DeMarco also wanted to comment and thank the Board of Education on the wonderful clean-up job done on Bridgeport Hall. The BOE had three shifts working to get the job done. Ms. DeMarco wanted to mention Gene Opheola specifically for the completion of this task.
The next building for clean-up is Canaan.
Ms. DeMarco was asked by Andrew Willie if there was any new information regarding the use of Fairfield Hills for the making of the movie, “The Madman’s Tale”. Ms. DeMarco had no new updates.
OPERATING COMMITTEE: Michael Holmes requested that on the Agenda, please change the wording “Electrical Leakage” to “Losses”.
Andrew Willie discussed the meeting he attended on Tuesday, August 14, 2007 with Park and Rec. Ed Marks and Barbara Kasbarian were in attendance. The planned seeding of the ball field is on schedule with the expected date of September 15/16, 2007.
PLANNING: Dave Cravanzola (O&G) gave the Project Management Report. Dave and Fred Hurley (Public Works) are working with Yankee Gas and CL&P on infrastructure progress.
Mr. Cravanzola also discussed the power usage from Bridgeport Hall to Greenwich Hall. There is no need for the use of power from Bridgeport Hall to any of the other properties therefore, Bridgeport Hall’s electrical system will be completely dismantled and will have a new self serving system installed. This will bring a considerable savings to the overall power usage.
The ball field status was updated. The schedule is approximately one week behind because of the discovery of hazardous materials during the demolition of Fairfield House.
It was reported that the demolition contractor did a good job dismantling the building. The proposed timeline was 2 weeks but the job was finished in 8 days. This has allowed the grading of the ball field to begin.
Mr. Cranvanzola gave the date of Monday, August 27, 2007 as the due date for the contracting bids for the demolition and remediation work at Bridgeport Hall. (Phase I). There are 4/5 interested bidders.
The completion of the Design Development estimate for the municipal office facility (Phase II) is underway and scheduled for completion by August 28th.
Mothballing is in a holding pattern because of the pursuit of grant money. Congresswoman Wasserman requested that Mr. Cravanzola get the name and number of the application to her so she can help to “push it along” during the next legislative session.
O & G met with Parks and Recreation to coordinate the private recreation development project with future town recreation/community center plans.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT:
Bob Geckle informed the Authority that a proposal was due this week for the use of Newtown Hall. Also, a lease for Stratford Hall to be used as a Restaurant and a lease for a “Not for Profit” Sport Facility is in process. Mr. Geckle said there was continued interest by two parties and a third expressed interest in the use of a Duplex. The parties were not identified.
Mr. Geckle discussed a break-down of common area costs that will be incurred by the Town of Newtown and the lessees of the Fairfield Hills properties. The approximate costs would be $500,000.00 with a 50/50 split between the Town and the lessees.
Mr. Geckle calculated that this commercial user payments would be approximately $250,000.00 per year at full total square foot occupancy. The payments for year 1 would be approximately $80,000.00
The point was made that the Sport or other similar facilities should not incur the same cost burden of $1.61 per square foot for their indoor fields, but should only pay $.40 for those areas. They would, however, be required to pay $1.61 for their office areas.
Maria DeMarco interjected that this is a starting point and the cost can be adjusted. This cost would be included in every proposed lease and would be subject to an annual review and appropriate adjustment based on actual costs.
Walt Motyka motioned that authorization of a range of $1.60 to $2.00 per square foot for common charges be offered. Don Studley seconded the motion.
Mr. Geckle will give Authority members a breakdown of the calculations for the common area costs.
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