Last week a Chickahominy resident who lives next to Hamilton Avenue School sent an open letter to Greenwich officials about the noise from a rented mobile air conditioning on school property.
Since the school’s geothermal HVAC system failed in fall 2023, there has been much hand wringing over the situation.
The cost to rent the temporary system is over $20,000 a month.
The machinery is parked on top of the pedestrian path on the east side of the school, next to a 10-unit apartment complex at 180 Hamilton Ave where the letter writer lives.
Temporary HVAC outside Hamilton Ave School. April 27, 2024
Temporary HVAC wrapped with fencing and noise mitigating mats. August 2024 Photo: Leslie Yager
Temporary HVAC wrapped with fencing and noise mitigating mats. August 2024 Photo: Leslie Yager
In January the RTM voted to approve $411,055 to fund the emergency HVAC system rental for the school until a permanent solution can be found. That was after a vote to postpone a decision on a $3.2 million request by the Board of Education for a gas-fired system to replace the existing geothermal system.
The RTM asked for a deeper analysis of reusing the geothermal. Much of the analysis needed to happen in the summer.
Meanwhile the temporary system roars for hours a day.
The letter writer, Lisa Wynne Salvatore, a Greenwich native, expressed frustration that quality of life had deteriorated for her and neighbors.
“This situation has been going on for seven days a week, approximately seven months out of the year, for more than a year,” she wrote. “While I understand that a problem exists at the school, surely there can be a better solution than what is in place now.”
Ms Salvatore described the temporary machinery as a nuisance and a public health concern.
“It seems as though there has been a distinct disregard for the residents in my 10-unit community and others who live right next door,” she wrote.
Ms Salvatore questioned what constituted the length of an emergency and asked for details on a Health Dept noise variance BOE facilities director Dan Watson had mentioned.
“In early June I contacted First Selectman, Fred Camillo, and had a brief conversation with him. Mr. Camillo said he never saw the variance and that he knew nothing about the situation,” she continued.
Ms Salvatore said Wendy Zhou, the Senior Management Analyst for the Office of the First Selectman has been sympathetic, and had worked with Ben Branyan, the Town Administrator, who is transitioning into a role at the Board of Education, to put up a chain-link fence with noise absorbing panels around the machinery.
Unfortunately, she said that did not reduce the noise she described as deafening.
She said the town did a decibel reading in early July that determined the decibels were approximately 40% to 50% over what is allowed per the Town’s allowed Noise Ordinance.
This week Mr. Branyan responded to questions about the situation, including details on the variance and further plans to mitigate the noise.
“The unit is necessary as the current geothermal system is not operational and as such, there is no cooling being provided to the building. The designed system was also responsible to keep the humidity inside of the building to a level where paper and wood products are not compromised and mold growth is not enhanced,” he said in an email.
“The district is committed to being a good neighbor and has installed sound attenuation fencing around the unit. We are working with an acoustical engineer to determine what additional mitigation strategies we can pursue to reduce the noise level. In addition, we are exploring if we can exchange the current unit with a quieter unit,” he continued. “The density of the site, configuration of building egress, and proximity of neighboring buildings, presents some significant constraints in relocating the unit to a different part of the school property.”
As for the variance, Branyan said the Health Dept issued it on August 29, 2023.
Since then, the Noise Ordinance moved from the purview of the Health Dept to the Board of Selectmen.
The hours per the variance are: Weekdays 6:00am to 9:30pm, and weekends 9:00am to 6:00pm.
During the summer, runtime is reduced by 20.5 hours during a seven-day week as follows: Weekdays 7:00am to 7:00pm and Weekends 9:00am to 5:00pm.
The temporary unit does not run all year because it is just a cooling system.
The district has brought in a geothermal specialist through AECOM who is assisting in analyzing not only the equipment inside the building, but also the status of the wells, including confirming the number of wells under the playground field and the functioning of those wells.
Once the report is finalized, and a decision is made for a new system, the design process will need to start again.
It will take several months to design. From there, the district will hire a contractor to oversee the job, and the equipment must be purchased.
Unfortunately, the equipment alone can take months to arrive due to ongoing supply chain shortages.
The timing will not allow work to begin in the summer of 2025, and that is the challenge.
The building can not be taken offline when children and staff are occupying the building, so while some work may be able to be completed during the school year, it is likely the work will occur in the summer of 2026.
In addition to working with AECOM to evaluate the condition of the geothermal system and compare it to a conventional HVAC system, the total cost of ownership is also being evaluated. The school district anticipates the report will be ready within the next few weeks. The report will inform the path forward.
Regardless of the system chosen, the need for a temporary unit will continue for 18-24 months.
Meanwhile, Ms Salvatore said neighbors’ patience was wearing thin as it impacted their quiet enjoyment of their property.
Peter Schweinfurth, chair of the town’s Energy Management Advisory Committee,who have the goal of putting the town on a path to realizing a 20-40% reduction in energy costs, shared his frustration as well.
“I can say that while Dr. Jones asked my committee in January of this year to lead the investigation of the school’s ground-source heat pump system problems, our committee has not been included by GPS in any deliberations since a meeting at the school in late February. Had we been involved, I’d like to think that we would have arrived at a conclusion and a go-forward strategy by now,” Schweinfurth said. “Unfortunately, GPS seems to be a long way from finalizing any analysis or being in a position to provide a choice of solutions. The lack of urgency has been disappointing.”
In response to Ms Salvatore’s letter, RTM Budget Overview Committee chair James Waters said in an email, “While I appreciate all the hard work going into resolving this issue, I’m disappointed this analysis is taking so long to complete and troubled that the temporary HVAC units are proving to be an ongoing annoyance to Ham Ave neighbors.”
Waters added, “The RTM is looking forward to reviewing the analysis when ready so the Town can make a prudent decision on the appropriate solution and get this issue behind us.”
In the meantime, Ms Salvatore has requested to be added to the agenda at the next Board of Selectmen meeting.
Selectperson Janet Stone McGuigan said she supported the request to add an item to a Selectmen agenda at a regular meeting.
“Variance or no variance, what really needs to happen is noise dampening, because these units are not going to go away any time soon,” she said.