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Fairfield’s Board of Selectmen was due to vote on a proposed renovation and expansion project for the Unquowa Road High School Wednesday night. But after getting more information from Superintendent David Title and other administrators, the group decided to delay its vote on the project to May 15.
The proposed project would add two science labs and four all-purpose classrooms to the school, expand its cafeteria and renovate the teacher and senior lounges. It would also replace the school’s PCB-contaminated windows and upgrade the 22-year-old roof to ward off leaks.
Some of the roof replacement was done earlier this year, when a section of the roof blew off during a wind storm in January. But even with that work the school still has more than 100,000 square feet of roofing that is “beyond its useful life,” according to architect Bill Silver.
Administrators predict Fairfield Ludlowe’s enrollment will climb to more than 1,700 students by the 2015-2016 school year. The school’s current capacity is 1,400 students. With 1,529 students now, Ludlowe is already over capacity. The new classrooms would bring its capacity to 1,525 students, which would still be below projections but would be easier to manage, said Headmaster Greg Hatzis.
Fairfield Warde’s enrollment is also expected to be above its 1,400 student capacity over the next few years, so the town would need to renovate that school if the district preferred to redistrict to lower Ludlowe’s enrollment. “You’re going to spend the money somewhere, since both schools are at or above capacity” Title told the Board of Selectmen Wednesday.
The Board of Selectmen is also scheduled to vote on another major school renovation project May 15. The proposed $15 million expansion of Riverfield Elementary School is also due for approval at that meeting, First Selectman Michael Tetreau said. Both projects are already accounted for in Fairfield’s projections for its annual debt payments, but parts of the work at Ludlowe will be taken on earlier than expected.
“Doing it all now would require borrowing a year or two earlier, and would accelerate our cash flow requirement for our debt service repayments,” Finance Director Robert Mayer said Wednesday. “We’d borrow a little bit less, but sooner.”
The school board hopes to have the project approved by the selectmen, the Board of Finance and the Representative Town Meeting by June 30, to meet an application deadline for reimbursements from the state government. If the plan stays on schedule work would start in 2014.
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