Kimberly Drelich
Groton — New elementary school buildings would provide greater value to the community, with no increase in the price of the school plan approved two years ago, according to schools Superintendent Michael Graner.
At a referendum slated for next month, voters will decide whether or not to approve a revision to the Groton 2020 plan to instead build two elementary schools, rather than convert the town's two middle schools into elementary schools. Graner, meanwhile, said in a recent interview that building new schools is the more cost-efficient option.
Two years ago, Groton voters approved a $184.5 million proposal to build one new consolidated middle school on the former Merritt Farm property next to Fitch High School and renovate the existing middle schools into two elementary schools. After the town notified the state Department of Administrative Services School Construction Grants and Review of the outcome of the vote, DAS officially approved the school plan in a letter and confirmed the state’s commitment to pay $100 million of the $184.5 million project, Graner said. The Permanent School Building Committee then began work to design the schools.
But DAS later notified the town that its guidelines had changed, opening up the possibility for a new plan for the elementary schools, he said. If school officials could prove it was more cost efficient to build new schools than to do renovations, DAS would consider approving the same funding. Architects, the Permanent School Building Committee and school officials met last summer with DAS officials in Hartford to discuss the cost estimates of renovating the two schools compared to the cost of building new schools.
“It turns out that building new was more cost-efficient,” Graner said.
At the same project cost of $184.5 million for a middle school and two elementary schools, the town found that it could get more value with new elementary buildings than renovated ones, he said. The new buildings would last longer, be energy-efficient and feature modern technology. They also could be built specifically for elementary school children.
“For the same price we could build modern, energy-efficient schools that are designed to meet the learning needs of young children and those buildings are anticipated to last from 45 to 50 years,” Graner said. The demolition costs of the two existing middle schools is included in the project cost, he said.
In August, the town received permission from DAS to build new elementary schools, Graner said. But since the referendum language approved by voters in 2016 says the existing middle school buildings will be renovated into like-new elementary schools, the town will need approval to revise the language to specify that new elementary schools would instead be built on the sites of the existing middle schools. There is no change to the original plan to build a new consolidated middle school adjacent to the high school. CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE
Plans for the demolition of Philip R. Smith Elementary School are moving forward
Peter Marteka
A $1.5 million plan to demolish the vacant Philip R. Smith Elementary School in South Windsor is moving forward to bid, with work expected to begin in January.
Construction on the new building is planned to start in April.
The project team of Moser Pilon Nelson, Gilbane Building Company and Colliers International has sent out an early bid package that will allow demolition in advance of constructing a new school on the same site.
Colliers International’s Charles E. Warrington, Jr., director of the project, said the demolition is anticipated to take approximately 10 weeks, with work starting in January and completion in mid-March Warrington said the main construction projects for both the 58,243-square-foot Smith and 66,586-square-foot Eli Terry elementary schools will be advertised and sent out for bid in late January. The $70 million plan to replace the schools came with a net $47 million price tag for the town. The state will reimburse the town $23 million of the construction costs.“Doing the two schools at once will be to our benefit,” said board of education member David Joy. “As will hopefully the [economic] environment we are in. … I’m optimistic.”
Warrington noted with the site unoccupied, the early demolition will allow an April start on the foundations instead of July. Students at Philip R. Smith have been temporarily relocated to Orchard Hill Elementary School. The new building is expected to be ready for the 2020-21 school year.
School Superintendent Kate Carter said the $1.5 million for demolition is part of the overall plan, but was separated out so they could move quickly.
“This was anticipated,” she said. “We are still on schedule for both projects. The idea was rather than have this lumped in with the other bidding that will happen, you want to get this out first and get going so you can move forward with the demolition.”
Carter is also hopeful of getting favorable bids when the entire project goes out.“They [Colliers] believe there is an attractiveness of two schools under a tight timeline,” she said. “There’s a lot of components that will make this attractive. They remain very optimistic that the competitive bidding process and the attractiveness of these projects should allow us favorable results which will be very helpful in maintaining budget for these projects,” she added.
Connecticut’s road to truck tolls goes through R.I.
Bill Cummings
Rhode Island’s early success with electronic truck tolls on several highways may offer a road map for Governor-elect Ned Lamont’s plan to generate revenue in Connecticut.
Since two toll gantries were installed over a section of I-95 in June, Rhode Island has exceeded revenue projections, bringing in $1.9 million in the first quarter from big rigs — almost $87,000 more than expected.
The state plans to eventually place12 overhead toll gantries on six highway corridors to generate $450 million over 10 years. The gantries use overhead cameras to read license plates and send bills to the registered owner.
Democratic leaders who hold a majority in the Connecticut House and Senate said they are open to Lamont’s campaign pledge to install truck tolls on the state’s highways and major routes.
The new Democratic governor predicted truck tolls could generate a $100 million a year for road, rail and bridge repairs "I’m sure he will introduce [truck tolls] and I will support that," said Senate President Martin Looney, D-New Haven. "If the governor wants to begin with that as an incremental step, I would support that." A potential obstacle is ongoing court challenges. The American Trucking Association has sued Rhode Island, arguing that truck tolls violate the interstate commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution. "Truck tolls are discriminatory," said Joe Sculley, president of the Motor Transport Association of Connecticut, which represents more than 1,400 trucking companies.
Right now there are two separate truck tolls on I-95 between the Connecticut/Rhode Island border and Warwick, R.I. One toll is $3.25, and the other is $3.50.Bigger plan
The revenue Rhode Island is collecting from truck tolls is just the beginning of a long range plan to fund bridge repairs and other work. Over the next decade, the state plans to spend $5 billion to fix an aging transportation system.
"Each [toll] location is associated with a bridge or bridge group," according to the Rhode Island Department of Transportation. "The Rhode Island DOT will repair or replace bridges with this revenue."
The rationale behind truck fees is to "toll the vehicles that caused the damage that needs to be repaired," the DOT said.
Rhode Island expected 568,876 transactions, or toll charges, for the initial two tolling locations during the first quarter of operation. The state recorded 36,432 more transactions than expected.
A main argument against tolls in Connecticut — aside from opposing the levy as another tax — is concern that cars or trucks would find ways around the toll gantries and create congestion on local roads.
Rhode Island officials say they are not seeing that trend.The state’s DOT expected that some 300 trucks on average would divert onto Rt. 3 to avoid tolls in Washington County, but so far only an average of four trucks during the period examined took a different route, the state DOT said.
‘Lot of damage’
The General Assembly’s Democratic majority last session supported tolls for everyone driving on state highways and four-lane state routes, which officials believe could generate as much as $1 billion a year. The effort stalled in the House and there was no chance of overcoming steadfast Republican opposition in the Senate, which was tied evenly between the two parties.
But the political landscape changed this week as Democrats significantly expanded their majority in the House and retook the state Senate by a comfortable margin.
During the campaign, Lamont said trucks cause the most damage to Connecticut’s highways and major roads and should be slapped with extra fees to repair that damage. "That starts with electronic tolling, when some of our biggest trucks, coming in from out-of-state, using our roads, tax-free, create tons of maintenance issues, and we’ll see where it goes from there," Lamont said.
Lacey Rose, Lamont’s spokeswoman, said the governor-elect remains committed to truck tolls. "Governor-elect Lamont has a plan for electronic tolling of heavy trucks, as he proposed during his campaign," Rose said.
House Majority Leader Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, said he expects truck tolls will come before lawmakers next year.
"The governor-elect thought out the idea of truck tolls," Ritter said. "That seemed to have widespread support. [Trucks] do a lot of damage to the roads, no doubt about that."
Senate Republican Leader Len Fasano, R-North Haven, is already criticizing Lamont’s truck toll proposal, saying the numbers don’t add up. "Where did the $100 million figure come from?" Fasano said a statement.
"In Rhode Island, they are anticipating net revenue of $121.8 million, but that is over a 5-year period," Fasano said. "That results in $24.36 million in revenue a year. Lamont’s pie-in-the-sky, $100 million number is pure fiction." It’s not clear how far lawmakers will go — stop at truck tolls or toll all vehicles — and whether Lamont is willing to expand his modest proposal.
House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz, D-Berlin, said he regrets the legislature’s failure last session to set the state on a path toward tolls for all drivers. CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE