P&Z Watch: Many New Faces Testify; Old Greenwich School MI is Complete

Over 100 people logged into Zoom for Tuesday’s Planning & Zoning Commission meeting with the Old Greenwich School applications topping the bill.

The school is riddled with issues including flooding and sewage in the lower level, lack of ADA compliance, lack of a secure entry, lack of fire protection, or modern HVAC. During the pandemic ventilation was achieved by opening windows even in the winter months.

In August, the P&Z commission responded favorably to the OGS pre-application, focusing on base flood elevation, flood proofing equipment, enrollment flexibility provided by the floor plan, and architectural details of the proposed main entry and the 1-story, 4-classroom addition to the rear of the building, and trees.

But the building committee needed the P&Z commission’s blessing on the Municipal Improvement and preliminary Coastal Site Plan and Special Permit to be able to proceed.

And on Tuesday night, the commission voted unanimously in favor of both.

In P&Z language, the application will proceed to final. From there, permits may be issued.

Next steps are to go to BOE and then BET for funding.

“OGS was built in 1902 with additions in 1950, 1957 and 1995 – and some renovations in 1993,” building committee chair James Waters said. “No significant capital projects have been completed at this campus in 25 years.”

Waters noted the Selectmen unanimously voted to refer the MI in April, and again last week.

He noted the building committee had done extensive community outreach, hosting seven public forums, and received excellent feedback.

“People want to see this project done, and they want it done now,” Waters said. “As you know there is one half of one entity in town that has not supported this renovation, and that entity rejected construction funds for this project on two occasions in the past six months.”

He noted that the school was the subject of a complaint with the Office for Civil Rights about its lack of accessibility, and that an agreement with OCR required the building be brought to compliance with 2010 ADA standards.

Waters, like several other speakers, brought up the impact of last weekend’s recent heavy rains.

“After school ended, one toilet flooded at OGS, bringing sewage into the building, as happens almost every time there is a storm in Old Greenwich. Custodians had to work overnight to pump it out. This cost the town money and reputational damage every time it happens.”

Waters noted there was not a single drop of flooding anywhere else in the building.

Waters introduced architect David Stein from Silver Petrucelli & Associates who talked about the proposed new school entryway that creates a central, at-grade primary entry for all students, parents, staff and visitors, and removes the grand stairway.

It includes new doors and windows, and a column-covered portico.

The design meets the new CT State Security Standards and Guidelines for public schools for primary entryways.

The exterior glazing and window system will have a blast and ballistic rating assembly.

Accessibility throughout the school will be improved by the addition of an elevator to each floor level. It will be inserted within the existing superstructure.

Restrooms will be upgraded and expanded on each level to meet the full extent of ADA and Federal 504 guidelines.

One classroom per grade level will become fully accessible. For example doorway openings will be widened, access to millwork provided, and sinks adjusted for proper reach.

A detailed narrative from Silver Petrucelli starts here on page 188.

Consultants talked about plans to address the base flood elevation and to tackle the sewage problem plaguing the school, about the floor plan that brings the building in compliance with ADA standards, adds a building wide HVAC and sprinkler system and creates a new secure and accessible front entrance, about the new front entryway, about the classroom addition, about drainage and trees and how the project maintains the building capacity of 408 students as set forth in the OGS ed specs.

A new single story 4-classroom fully accessible kindergarten addition is proposed to be one foot above the designated FEMA flood elevation

P&Z commission chair Margarita Alban asked abut the project’s impact on local traffic.

Mr. Waters explained that was not an issue as the school had 350 walkers, one school bus with about six students on it, and about 40 families who drive.

As for the sensory Garden, Ms Alban said she was a bit “out of my comfort zone.”

“I had never heard of one before. I Googled it. But Conservation sent comments about where it’s planted, where the plants will thrive and where it will be best.”

On the landscaping plan, five trees will be removed and replaced with 13 new trees. They were chosen for visual, seasonal interest and shade.

Public Comment

Among the speakers were parents and alumni of the school, the principal, BOE chair Joe Kelly, OGS PTA president, PTA Council President, and State Rep Steve Meskers (D-150).

“There is no one who loses more sleep about Old Greenwich School,” said Principal Jen Bencivengo.

“Just this weekend I spent many hours in the middle of the night on the phone with our custodians making sure that our building was safe, healthy and sewage free on Monday morning for our students.”

She quoted her daughter describing Old Greenwich as just like Disney and the school as its castle.

Matt DesChamps, a Democratic candidate for BET whose comments were his own, said the community supported the project and commended the building committee.

“Given the project’s track record of efficiency, I am confident in the building committee’s ability to meet project milestones. This project warrants full construction funding to prevent needlessly wasting taxpayer’s money and cost escalations,” DesChamps said.

“Approving the MI will allow the BET to grant full construction funding necessary to advance this project expeditiously, and to deliver a cost efficient, safe and ADA-compliant school for our community,” DesChamps added.

State Representative Meskers, whose district includes Old Greenwich, urged approval of the MI.

“Without the MI, the appropriation won’t happen. Without the appropriation I can’t fulfill my role as your State Rep to wrestle the state to the ground to maximize reimbursement on this project for the benefit of all the taxpayers of Greenwich,” Meskers said. “The sooner that happens, the higher my ability to negotiate.”

“I have been in touch with the community through walking tours. Consistently their desire to see this get done is high. They embrace the project.”

The PTA Council president John Fisher noted that there were about 4,000 PTA member families across the district’s 15 schools.

He said PTA Council urged the P&Z commission to approve the MI request and argued that the project aligned with all six of the POCD guiding principles.

BOE chair Joe Kelly said the BOE was 100% unanimously in support of the project.

“How hard is it nowadays to get four Republicans and four Democrats to agree on something?” he asked, adding that he’d attended dozens of building committee meetings led by chairman Waters.

Coline Jenkins, RTM district 6 chair, said the project was a chance to implement the POCD.

“Of the six guiding principals of the POCD, the OGS is directly aligned with (1), preservation of community character and sense of place, (3) top quality educational facilities and (6), the best quality infrastructure, municipal facilities, cultural institutions and health services,” Jenkins said.

Alex Russell said the secure entryway was important given the increasing number of active shooter incidents in the country.

“We are at a record high, and yet OSG still does not have a secure entrance to the school where staff can properly see who is entering the building. These numbers are terrifying, which leads us to understand that a secure entrance is not a nice to have, but a must have.”

Mieke Duxbury said the issue of ADA accessibility had become personal when her 5th grader injured himself a few days earlier and was in a boot and on crutches.

“It makes it a little difficult to get to the third floor of OGS and travel up and down to go to lunch, and recess and music and PE,” she said, adding that interventions are not in the classroom or on the same floor of the child’s classroom, requiring more trips up and down stairs.

“I feel so strongly about this. Out of the mouths of babes… I had to pick him up early today because he was exhausted and he told me, ‘Mom, if only there was an elevator I could have made it through my school day.'”

Morgan Evans said he attended OGS in the 1980s and had three children there today.

“The HVAC system is definitely ready for an update,” Evans said. “As we experienced recently, wildfire smoke and particulate matter intruded and contaminated OGS in June.”

Patrick Sherwood spoke about the new classroom addition and the creation of an enclosed courtyard.

“The addition will get our kindergartners out of the basement classrooms that flood and into learning spaces better designed to meet their learning needs. The enclosed courtyard will provide a safe and attractive learning space for children of al ages.”

Also, he noted that the addition of four classrooms was critical for the occupied phasing of the project.

Chris Sotzing, an alumni and parent, described the school as an Old Greenwich icon that played a part in defining the character of the town. He said he was particularly pleased with the redesign of the front entry.

“It preserves the historic look and feel of the building, but also addresses important improvements to accessibility and security that are absolutely critical,” he added.

What’s next?

The favorable votes enable the building committee to go back to the BOE and then the BET to request construction funding. Waters said that could be as soon as next week.

“We intend to complete the design development phase and movement toward final site plan in the coming couple of months,” he said. “We’re on track to finish design development at the end of the year to include a next round of estimates and our final site plan. After that we’d be moving to construction documents in the first quarter of next year.”

Waters noted the funding was dependent on around 15.5% of total project costs.

“Once we have construction funds we would need to work with our state delegation, like Rep Meskers said, to try to get special legislation to get on a ‘state priority list,’ which is released at the end of the year,” Waters said.

“If all of those stars align – and I have no reason to believe they can’t – we would be on track to bring this project out to bid in the spring and we could break ground in the summer.”

Last week, at the Selectmen meeting, Waters warned that if the BET didn’t fund the project, the committee anticipated the project will run out of funding in early 2024.

“This would mean all work would stop after spending $1 million of taxpayer dollars, and the project would be delayed at least two years, likely at an additional cost of $5 to $6 million,” he said.

Tasks for the building committee before submitting the final application to P&Z include work with the DPW sewer division on both the north and south sewer laterals, work on landscaping plan, and work on a Soil Erosion and Sedimentation Plan.

On Wednesday morning, Waters reached out to say, “The Old Greenwich School Building Committee would like to thank P&Z for their unanimous support and thoughtful feedback last night. We were also overwhelmed at the support expressed by the community. Receiving Municipal Improvement status is a huge milestone and enables us, once again, to seek construction funding from the BET.”

Also, he added, “Hopefully the third time will be a charm as we have now answered all process-oriented objections, including new ones implemented in the past four weeks. If the BET and RTM approve, our state delegation will seek special legislation in the near term so that we can commence construction in summer 2024.”

Greenwich Free Press -

P&Z Watch: Many New Faces Testify; Old Greenwich School MI is Complete

By: greenwichfreepress | October 4, 2023