Government

Selectmen OK Contract for Asbestos Removal in Waveny House Basement

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Town officials on Tuesday approved an approximately $27,000 contract with a Hartford-based company to remove asbestos from water pipes located in the basement of Waveny House. 

Bill Oestmann, buildings superintendent with the Department of Public Works, said the town is approaching the work as “a phased project because of the sensitivity and the age of the building and what we’re handling.”

“We don’t want to open up a big can of worms here,” Oestmann told members of the Board of Selectmen at their regular meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. 

First Selectman Dionna Carlson and Selectmen Steve Karl and Amy Murphy Carroll voted 3-0 in favor of a $27,300 contract with Haz-Pros Inc. 

Oestmann said the company will “come in and remove the asbestos piping and around the areas where we’re going to make the transition from all the new piping we’re putting in to all the elaborate piping going up to the bathrooms and what have you,” 

Each pipe is about 10 feet long and there are some 200 total feet of piping that require asbestos abatement, he said. “Once we get all that done and the pipes hooked up, the whole system will actually then be replaced and then we can take our time, sit back and say, ‘OK, how do we want to abate the rest of the basement?’ ” he said. “It buys us some time and we get what we need. We have all new water lines now.”

The abatement is one piece of approximately $200,000 in asbestos removal that officials anticipate at the iconic town-owned mansion in Waveny, officials said. 

The selectmen asked for clarification on the total feet of piping now requiring abatement (about 200) and whether the $200,000 budgeted for the overall project includes abatement as well as installation or just abatement (the latter). Asbestos does not have to be removed from pipes if it goes undisturbed in any new work, officials said.

Government

Town Spends $225,000 for New Lampposts in Waveny

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The Board of Selectmen during its most recent meeting approved an approximately $225,000 contract to purchase 40 lampposts for Waveny from a Norwalk-based company. The lampposts in the park now are “smaller,” “not as well made” and are manufactured by a company that’s no longer in business, according to Department of Public Works Buildings Superintendent Bill Oestmann. The purchase represents the first part of a two-phase project that will see a total of 70 new lampposts installed at the park that match those in downtown New Canaan, Oestmann told the selectmen at their regular meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. 

“Phase two project is for next year to finish the rest of the lights,” he said. “We did this over two years because of the cost. And the amount of work to be honest with you.

Amy Murphy Carroll

Town: Playhouse on Track for May 1 Reopening

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Shuttered since the onset of COVID-19, New Canaan’s movie theater is on track to reopen around May 1, officials say. The approximately $8 million renovation of The Playhouse on Elm Street is “going well,” according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. “It’s on schedule,” he told members of the Board of Selectmen during an update on the project at their regular meeting Tuesday, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. “It’s actually—I don’t want to say it’s ‘ahead’ of schedule, so let’s just say it’s ‘on’ schedule—but we’re feeling we’ll be able to open a little bit earlier than we originally anticipated.”

The town’s contract with its construction company has the project completed May 30-June 1, Mann said, though “right now they’re looking at April 30-May 1.”

The architects on the job are “confident as well” with that date, he said. “So that’s what we’re gunning towards,” Mann said.

Amy Murphy Carroll

‘This Is Disappointing’: Playhouse Renovation Estimate Up to $7.9 Million, Double Original Budget

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Due primarily to the unexpected expense of a new HVAC system, the widely anticipated renovation of the town-owned movie theater on Elm Street is now projected to cost about $7.9 million, more than twice the initial budget of $3.9 million, officials say. The town originally anticipated re-using the existing HVAC system in the Playhouse, and budgeted about $400,000 for that part of the project, but due to new Code requirements and the need for better air circulation, the cost has risen by nearly $2 million, to $2.3 million, according to Department of Public Works officials. In addition, the town and its contractors found, after starting the interior demolition of the 1923-built Playhouse, that more structural work was needed than they’d anticipated, Public Works Director Tiger Mann told the Board of Selectmen on Tuesday. “We noticed that during previous work in the building they actually did some damage to the structure itself, taking out some bearing items, some of the girders are separating, some of the areas that needed to be replaced were refashioned,” Mann said during the selectmen’s regular meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. 

“So the structural engineers mentioned things that we’ve got to do on the structural side to make the building whole again. And then, given the fact of, after the eight separate design iterations that we went through to try and fit everything into the building and make it compliant with current standards and make it accessible throughout.

Government

Town Approves $350,000 for Electrical Equipment at Renovated Playhouse

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The Board of Selectmen at its most recent meeting approved a pair of contracts for electrical equipment needed for the widely anticipated renovation project at the Playhouse on Elm Street. Shuttered since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 100-year-old brick movie theater is undergoing major interior work for a reopening later this year. The selectmen during their Feb. 19 meeting voted unanimously in favor of an approximately $24,000 contract with a Danbury-based company for switchgear equipment, and a $325,000 contract with an Avon-based company for equipment such as air handlers and condensers. 

Bill Oestmann, superintendent of buildings in the Department of Public Works, said Building Codes and Energy Codes have “changed quite a bit” recently. “They just changed in October so we’ve got a couple of extra things added to it that we have to do by Code now,” Oestmann said during the meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference.