Jean Falbo-Sosnovich
The Seymour Board of Selectpersons meets on Aug. 6.
SEYMOUR – The Board of Selectpersons met Tuesday (Aug. 6) for their bi-monthly meeting. Here’s a few highlights.
Aging Bungay School In Need Of A Makeover
The board awarded a bid of $44,000 to Antinozzi Associates of Bridgeport to do a feasibility study and facility assessment review of the 70-year Bungay School. The firm was the lowest bidder for the job, out of nine bids received (with the highest bid coming in at $180,000), according to Bungay School Building Committee Chairman and Selectman Fred Stanek.
Antinozzi has previously worked on several other Seymour school building projects, including the Chatfield-LoPresti School expansion/renovation.
The board previously approved spending up to $55,000 for the study in February.
Stanek said the firm will be charged with reviewing the current conditions of the elementary school’s infrastructure and developing conceptual design plans and cost estimates for three possible options: an expansion, a renovation of the school “as new” and new construction.
“This is the first phase of the project and that will take us hopefully to referendum sometime early next year,” Stanek said.
Prior to the building committee being formed, a facility needs study committee took a deep dive into issues plaguing Bungay and concluded the school needs to be brought up to code and modernized. The last renovation to Bungay occurred in 1996 with the addition of a first-grade classroom wing. The aging infrastructure includes original windows, bathrooms, flooring, along with a heating and cooling system that school officials said can’t keep up when temperatures soar. The building also lacks air conditioning in the gymnasium, lacks storage space and parking spaces. A shared exit for buses and student drop offs causes problems on Bungay Road, officials said.
Upgrades to the town’s other three schools were done more recently, including construction of a brand-new Seymour Middle School in 2001; a renovation and addition of a science wing at Seymour High School in 2005 and an expansion/addition which moved the former LoPresti School to Chatfield School for the Chatfield-LoPresti School project in 2012.
Addressing Affordable Housing
One of the town’s newest committees, the Affordable Housing Committee, gave the board an overview of what they’ve been up to over the last few months. Committee Chairwoman Mary Ann Robinson said the six-member committee is working on ways to address a lack of affordable housing in Seymour. Affordable housing is generally defined as housing (whether renting or owning) that costs a household not more than 30 percent of its income. For a family that earns $50,000 a year, for example, affordable housing translates to $1,250 or less per month.
Robinson said the latest state data shows 21 percent of Seymour residents spend between 30 and 50 percent of their annual income on housing, while 12 percent spend more than half their annual income on housing.
Seymour, according to the latest data from the state Department of Housing, currently has 5.6 percent affordable housing. The state recommends towns have 10 percent of its housing deemed affordable housing. Seymour has 393 affordable housing units, that include a mix of government-assisted housing units, tenants who receive housing vouchers and single-family homeowners with mortgages through CHFA or USDA.
Robinson said the committee is planning to host an informational meeting in October (at a date to be determined) with town leaders and the community to discuss the issue.
“We want young people to be able to afford to stay in Seymour and we want seniors looking to downsize to afford to stay in the community they love,” Robinson said.
If You Build It, They Will Come
On the heels of getting denied a $16 million state grant to build a connector road behind Seymour Stop & Shop on Franklin Street/Route 67 into Beacon Falls/Route 42 — to pave the way for Haynes Development to build a major mixed-use development on 200+ acres — the board opted to solicit requests for proposals to hire someone to start designing the road.
The town will use money from a $3 million grant – awarded to both Seymour and Beacon Falls last year from Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro – to bring engineering and environmental consulting firm Langan (with offices in New Haven) onboard.
Seymour’s chief administrative officer Kurt Miller said three firms submitted proposals to design the road, as well as expand the town’s greenway trail into Beacon Falls.
“We have firsthand working knowledge with all three firms, but it was determined that the best fit to move the project forward is going with Langan,” Miller said.
Economic Development Director Sheila O’Malley said she’s working to find additional sources of funding for the actual road construction.
The state Department of Economic and Community Development said when it denied the grant that the project wasn’t as “shovel-ready” as other projects around the state.
“Once we have the design phase completed, we would be ready to begin putting the road in once we have identified funding sources,” Miller said. “This is going to be a very exciting public-private partnership that will provide tremendous benefit for both Seymour and Beacon Falls. It is fantastic that the two neighboring are working so closely with the developer to bring this to fruition.”
Miller said an ad-hoc committee, comprised of First Selectwoman Annmarie Drugonis, Beacon Falls First Selectman Gerry Smith and others are working with developer Tom Haynes to make the project a reality.
The Name Game
Selectman Fred Stanek thinks Broad Street Park, which serves as a gateway into town on Broad and River streets, deserves a more fitting name.
“The park is indeed a beautiful park which was created by the VFW and has been enhanced by the Seymour Culture and Arts Committee,” Stanek said. “It overlooks the Tingue Dam Falls, the Paul Pawlak Sr. Fish Bypass and Park and the site of the mill where President Washington’s inaugural suit was reportedly made. It is my proposal that the park be named appropriately with a name other than Broad Street Park.”
A new ordinance allows residents to make suggestions regarding naming of town-owned facilities, following a public hearing and vote of the selectpersons.
Stanek threw out a few possible names, including Falls View Park and Humphreysville Overlook Park, but said he’s open to soliciting the public’s input for more suggestions.
Selectwoman Theresa Conroy said she’d like to see the name of the park somehow honor the Chuse Indians which settled near the falls “long before us.”
The board ultimately decided they will get students involved, and possibly hold a contest, to solicit their ideas for names for the park. Drugonis said a list of names can be gathered and brought to a public hearing in October for the board to review and vote on.
