The Fairfield Hills Authority held a special meeting on Thursday, June 5, 2008 in the meeting room at Town Hall South, Main Street, Newtown, CT. Bob Geckle called the meeting to order at 6:03 p.m.
Present: Bob Geckle, Chairman, Don Studley, John Reed, Walter Motyka, Michael Holmes and Moira Rodgers.
Absent: Amy Dent, Andy Willie and Julia Wasserman
Also Present: First Selectman Joe Borst, Attorney Dave Grogins, Finance Director Bob Tait.
Discussion of Potential Revisions to the Newtown Youth Academy Lease:
Bob Geckle gave an overview for the purpose of this meeting. There are three options to amend the Lease Agreement with D’Amico/Newtown Youth Academy that have been brought to the Authority for review. (See Attached).
The first option has the Town of Newtown putting in temporary parking for the Newtown Youth Academy at a cost of $500,000 per the existing Lease Agreement. This is a temporary solution that will have to be rectified within 5 years.
The second option is a revised lease agreement with the Newtown Youth Academy that would have the “tenant” put in permanent parking and demolish Greenwich House. This is within the long range commitment to Planning & Zoning that requires that Greenwich House be the first building to be demolished. The Town would reimburse the costs of approximately $3.5 million over a 20 year agreement.
The third option is similar to the first option in that temporary parking would be installed and within 5 years Greenwich House would have to be demolished by the Town of Newtown and permanent parking would have to be installed by the town. The estimated cost to this option is $6.2M because of an approximate cost escalation of 12%.
After a lengthy discussion, the following motion was made.
Motion: Don Studley made the following motion. The Fairfield Hills Authority is making a recommendation to the Board of Selectmen that the Newtown Youth Academy Lease revisions be written accordingly:
Paragraph 1A.2 of the lease is amended by adding the following at the end thereof:
“Notwithstanding the above, upon the agreement of the parties hereto, the tenant may construct the permanent parking for the premises as set forth in the Amended Master Plan for “Fairfield Hills.” In such event, Tenant agrees to construct said Permanent Parking for a guaranteed maximum price of $3,500,000. Landlord agrees to reimburse Tenant therefore on a yearly basis not to exceed 20 years on such terms and conditions as shall be mutually agreed upon. Furthermore, prior to commencement of any construction the parties agree to “value engineer” the proposed parking to reduce the cost thereof.”
The motion was seconded by Walt Motyka.
A vote was taken. Bob Geckle, Walt Motyka, Don Studley, Michael Holmes and John Reed voted yes. Moira Rodgers voted no.
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