An indoor air quality assessment conducted at the Community Center at 20 Pine St. revealed mold growth in kitchen ceiling tiles in the basement.
The mold found could cause allergic reactions, Steve Daniels, an industrial hygienist with Hamden-based Facility Support Services, LLC, told Selectmen Tuesday (May 7), but the find isn’t extraordinary given the building’s age.
“We didn’t find any of the particularly dangerous molds,” he said. “(But) Allergies being what they are, some people are sensitive to some of the molds that we did find.”
The mold was due to water damage to the tiles, he said, and the kitchen contained the highest levels of mold spore colonies, compared to two other locations tested.
Selectmen requested the assessment from Daniels’ firm because of environmental concerns in the building that sits on the site hit hard by the Flood of 1955.
The company recommends that the mold is treated by an abatement company and that the area then be tested again.
Daniels also recommends running a humidifier and increasing the ventilation in the basement, and doing “proactive cleaning.”
Asked if he had any concerns about people using the building, Daniels said: “Other than treating that one area for mold, none really. And that area’s small enough and it’s not occupied all the time … We don’t have any concerns.”
The company tested for mold spores, allergens and particles in the Community Center, Daniels said, and found mold conditions in eight or nine ceiling tiles in the kitchen.
Samples were taken in early April in two interior locations and on the exterior of the building, in order to compare outdoor and indoor mold levels.
Experts consider anything above 500 colony forming units per cubic meter as accelerated growth, and the kitchen mold was measured at 1,900 CFU/m3.
“That area was higher than the others by a significant amount,” Daniels said.
All in all, Daniels was upbeat about the results of the air testing.
“The conditions we found were on the good side for a building of that age,” he said.
The cost of remediating the mold and installing a humidifier shouldn’t exceed $10,000, and may be significantly less than that, Daniels said.
The building, which was formerly the town’s middle school before being converted to a community center in 2002, is one of four facilities that town officials have been grappling with over the past several months.
They say the facilities are inefficient and are too expensive to maintain.
The company also tested for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the area near a room that was previously used for storing chemicals. Low levels of the compounds were found there, he said.
The company didn’t see much evidence of asbestos, but the time to test and remediate would be during renovation.
“When you renovate, you’ll probably run into an asbestos issue,” he said.
Dealing With Deteriorating Town Buildings
Last year, Seymour officials charged a buildings review committee to make recommendations on how to deal with the Community Center, Town Hall, the former Anna LoPresti School at 29 Maple St. and a town-owned building at 98 Bank St. which houses school department offices and leases space to the Naugatuck Valley Health District.
The committee issued a report to Selectmen in December outlining options to reconfigure the town’s use of its space.
Instead of going through with one of the suggested recommendations, selectmen asked First Selectman Kurt Miller to get more information on the cost of maintaining the buildings and repairs needed to refurbish them.
Miller said he’s looking into the possibility of the Boys & Girls Club of the Lower Naugatuck Valley using the Community Center’s gymnasium.
Options for the building would be to sell it to a developer or renovate it.
Skate Park Construction On Horizon?
The ongoing debate about the future of the Community Center has affected the progress of the town’s skate park project.
At the April 2 Board of Selectmen meeting, the location of the park appeared to be up for grabs. It was to be located on the field next to the Community Center building, but Miller questioned whether it would be better to install the skate park at the fields near Sochrin’s Pond, a location that had been suggested as a back-up site.
But after neighbors in the Sochrin’s Pond area voiced their opposition at the April 16 meeting, selectmen voted unanimously not to build the long-delayed facility near the pond.
On Tuesday, Selectmen referred the skate park project to the Planning and Zoning Commission.
The referral is “a formality,” said Paul Roy, skate park committee chairman.
Roy said the fate of the Community Center won’t affect building the skate park on that property, and committee members are looking to go out to bid during the first week of June and “get the permits in place.”
Construction may take place from mid-July through September, he said.
