Though New Canaan’s public schools all are well-maintained and in good or very good condition, all but the high school—which underwent an extension renovation in 1997—should undergo physical upgrades to meet accessibility codes in areas such as bathrooms, according to the draft of a consultant’s report presented Monday.
Individual items such as replacing the floor of West School’s gym and underground fuel tanks installed 25 years ago at West, East, South and Saxe rank as “urgent priorities” for the district, officials from Hamden-based Silver/Petrucelli + Associates said during the Board of Education’s meeting, in presenting the first draft of a capital needs assessment that the school board solicited in the fall.
“The five buildings have been prowled by our architects and mechanical, electrical and fire protection engineers,” the firm’s president, Bill Silver, said during the board’s meeting, held in the Wagner Room at New Canaan High School.
“We are really giving you all the pieces and a ‘shopping list,’ if you want to call it that, so that you can develop a short-term five-year capital plan or at least know what is 10 years out, or what is 20 years out, as part of your planning,” he said.
The report arrives as New Canaan prepares to shape the town budget for fiscal year 2016. Separately, First Selectman Rob Mallozzi had asked municipal department heads to sketch out their own capital needs in a “Preliminary Town of New Canaan 5-Year Capital Improvement Plan,”which you can find starting on page 20 of this PDF.
The school board is planning to give a first read of its own proposed FY16 budget Jan. 5—a full budget calendar can be found here.
Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi during Monday’s meeting described the Silver/Petrucelli document as a guide that will help the district identify priorities among capital needs at the schools and help build out a five-year plan.
The reports break down site, building exterior and interior, mechanical and electrical systems on a school-by-school basis, including details about traffic, parking, playgrounds and playing fields, gutters and draining, power, communications and fire systems. For example, part of the West School portion reads: “It is reported that the building general exhaust system is inoperable, possibly contributing to poor indoor air quality in the classrooms. Further study will be required beyond the scope of this report in order to determine the extent and nature of the problem and the most cost effective solution.”
Board members asked the consultants how much time remains fire systems identified as approaching the end of their useful lives at all schools but NCHS (answer: about five more years), how ADA compliance works, and specifically about one item listed as an ‘Urgent priority’ and estimated to cost $410,000—a complete fire sprinkler system at West School.
Michelle Miller, an architect of Silver/Petrucelli who is working closely on the needs assessment, said the figure wasn’t supposed to be listed in this report but rather put to the side, and wouldn’t be included in future iterations.
“We were asked what it would cost to introduce a sprinkler system,” she said, and didn’t mean to imply that the district needed one.
Silver urged the board for items that they would postpone to remember that costs for those items would escalate as more time went on.
Here’s a table that includes those items, school-by-school, identified as “urgent priorities” by the firm:
New Canaan Public Schools—Capital Needs Assessment, Draft Findings
| School | Violation | Corrective Action | Estimated Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| East Elementary School | Large amounts of storage and paper in corridors. | Remove and limit the amount of combustible materials in courtyard. | $0 |
| Area of refuge is occupied with shelving and storage. | Remove. | $0 | |
| The installation date of the underground fuel oil storage tank is 1989. The tank is likely at its end of useful life and requirements for tank testing and inspection should be reviewed. It is recommended that replacement should be planned/budgeted for within one to five years. | Review state-required tank registration paperwork. | $150,000 | |
| South Elementary School | Civil | Verify stability of bank near rear playground. Provide landscape plantings to hold earth back. | $10,000 |
| Civil | Remove wood retaining walls throughout lower playground and replace with concrete. | $25,000 | |
| Civil | Slope concrete stoop to bituminous pathway at all classrooms and other doors that do not properly meet grade. | $10,000 | |
| Large amounts of storage and paper in corridors. | [Remove] | $0 | |
| Expansion joints at floor are caving. | Replace. | $6,000 | |
| The installation date of the underground fuel oil storage tank is 1989. The tank is likely at its end of useful life and requirements for tank testing and inspection should be reviewed. It is recommended that replacement should be planned/budgeted for within one to five years. | Review state-required tank registration paperwork. | $150,000 | |
| West Elementary School | Condensate drain spills on sidewalk under canopy—safety issue. | Relocate condensate drain. | $5,000 |
| Gym floor is damaged. Some punctures could result in a tripping hazard. It is also known that there are issues with the slab therefore causing the punctures. | Remove floor. Address slab and reseal. Replace with new rubber flooring. | $125,000 | |
| It appears that the existing combustion air provisions are inoperable. | Recommend further inspection and evaluation of the existing combustion air system. | $6,000 | |
| The flexible propane lien has been damaged, possibly during lawn mowing. the line should be properly repaired and protected from future damage. | Replace damaged section of propane line and install in protective conduit. | $2,000 | |
| The building is not equipped throughout with an automatic fire sprinkler system. ** | Install a complete fire sprinkler system including fire service main, sprinkler riser, sprinkler piping and heads in accordance with NFPA 13. | $410,000 | |
| The installation date of the underground fuel oil storage tank is 1989. The tank is likely at its end of useful life and requirements for tank testing and inspection should be reviewed. It is recommended that replacement should be planned/budgeted for within one to five years. | Review state-required tank registration paperwork. | $150,000 | |
| Saxe Middle School | Civil | Fix ramp near media center. | $5,000 |
| Control joint has failed at media center, showing significant movement in the exterior brick wythe. | Clean out loose control. Repair wall. | $15,000 | |
| Numerous areas of cracking at exterior brick and interior CMU and foundation walls along with caving interior expansion joints and settling of slabs. | HIre a structural engineer to study these issues. | N/A | |
| Masonry site wall at propane tank is damaged. It has moved toward almost hitting the tank. | Rebuild the 10'-0"+/- portion of skewed wall and add bollards to this area for future protection. | $15,000 | |
| Floors are not level in certain areas. | Include in structural analysis. | N/A | |
| Expansion joints are caving and cracking. One specifically is in terrible condition and could [unreadable]. | Replace expansion joints at floor. | $20,000 | |
| The installation date of the underground fuel oil storage tank is 1989. The tank is likely at its end of useful life and requirements for tank testing and inspection should be reviewed. It is recommended that replacement should be planned/budgeted for within one to five years. | Review state-required tank registration paperwork. | $150,000 | |
| New Canaan High School | [No "Urgent Priority" items.] |
** See article for discussion of this item—the figure will not be included in future drafts of the report, as the firm was only asked to give an estimate as to how much the sprinkler system at West would cost.