Officials Discuss Track and Field, Other Proposed Projects

A track and field project at Canton High School may be the only “new” piece of infrastructure in a proposed bonding package but could fit in perfectly with the town and its goals, education officials said Monday night.

Ed Hoyt, business manager for the Canton schools, said the project would help draw people to town and tie nicely into other recreational facilities in town such as Mills Pond and the Farmington River trail.

“I think you have to look at the economic development in town and the draw into town,” he said. “In that aspect this blends into the other projects.”

The proposed track and field project discussion came during a meeting Monday night in which the Board of Finance talked to town officials and members of a Capital Projects Study Committee about a bonding package that, if approved in some form, would go to voters at a November referendum.

Board of Finance Chairman Richard Ohanesian said the goal was to learn more about the process as well as the proposed projects.

Chief Administrative Officer Robert Skinner said a committee of town staff and members of the board of selectmen and education discussed larger projects the town could not take on in its regular budget. It considered aspects such as safety, legal, maintenance, asset preservation, financial benefits and service delivery. 

“Two of them pretty quickly came out as high priority,” Skinner said.

Those top two, or Tier 1 projects are:

• $7.5 million for “pavement management,” including major projects on several town roads and the Canton High School and Cherry Brook Primary School parking lots
• $2.2 million for major roof repairs and partial replacement at the community center and all three schools.

The two projects that came in at a second tier, and their current estimated costs are:

• $7 million for a new highway garage, including construction and property acquisition
• $1.2 million toward a $2.2 million track and multi-use synthetic field at Canton High School. ($1 million to be raised through other means)

There were other projects on the table but many were not ready to go forward for various reasons, Skinner said. In the end the committee recommended the town bond for the four projects over 20 year, through it offered a few alternatives. 

The finance board has not yet committed to bonding but all four were discussed at some length Monday.

With the roads, bonding will allow the town to take care of some larger projects such as redoing East Hill Road and fixing its drainage, at an estimated cost of $960,000.

Town officials talked about various techniques for road work and Ohanesian said that if the project goes to a vote people will want to know which roads would be part of the package.

The roof project would pay for re-doing older portions on the four buildings, starting with the Community Center and Canton Intermediate School in which water is already penetrating below the surface in the older, flat sections, Hoyt said.

Those should be done in the summer of 2013 and the Cherry Brook Primary School and the high school could come the following year, he said.

The finance board also spent on the second-tier projects, which have likely generated the most interest in the community. 

With the highway garage, the town has a tentative agreement to purchase a portion of the land at 5 Cherry Brook for $665,000, Skinner said. The actual sale price is higher but would involve a "gift" to the town, he said. Some appraisals and Board of Selectmen approval are still needed as well. The town would also have several contingencies in case the project did not come to fruition. 

Originally estimated at $9 million, the town and an engineer have worked on reducing some features and the current estimate of nearly $7 million does include land purchase and site work and the garage itself, officials said.

While it hopes for less, there is an estimate three-quarters of a million in site work alone due to ledge, Peter Reynolds, chairman of the Permanent Municipal Building Committee, said. 

Officials are currently working with an engineer on plans and looking at such numerous possibilities, such as building a two-bay garage with a more open floor plan rather than having separate bays.

The town is also now looking at building a 19,000 square-foot building, rather than the original 24,000.

The size would meet the town’s needs, Reynolds said. 

“We’re going to house all the vehicles and all the equipment,” he said. “There’s no compromise there.”

An adequate garage will allow the town to properly wash and store its vehicles, extending their lifespan and resale value, officials said.

While much discussion has generated around some less expensive garage projects in other towns, officials did briefly address some of that Monday and said the site acquisition and site work are two challenges Canton faces. In the case of Barkhamsted, the facility is much smaller, which saved that town money on building costs and allowed them to forego a sprinkler system, an engineer said at a previous meeting.

Officials have also said there are design differences in the other projects — some of which the town could consider but others it may not want to.

The track did generate a fair amount of discussion Monday as well, in part due to its nature as a completely new project.

Education officials referred to a 2009 study detailing the need for more field space.

The synthetic turf and lights of this field would extend its seasonal and daily use times, making it equivalent to about 2.5 regular fields, Hoyt said.

Finance board members also continued to raise concerns about the decision to partially fund it and wanted to know how accurate the cost estimates are.  

While the Board of Education has hired Milone & McBroom to refine estimates and conduct some site evaluation, Hoyt said the district is very comfortable with the numbers.

Finance board chairman wanted to know why the committee came up with the idea to raise $1 million through other means and only bond for $1.2 million.

School officials said there are grant opportunities, alumni willing to donate, some in-kind possibilities and the potential for partial federal reimbursement, especially if the project satisfies American with Disability Act requirements.

Chief Administrative Officer Robert Skinner also said it was the one project for which the committee felt people may give money.

“We had a hard time thinking people would donate to a highway garage,” Skinner said.

Still Board of Finance members felt raising $1 million for a project was a stretch.

“If it’s a project going out to bond we should be bonding for the cost of the project,” finance board member Mary Tomolonius said.

Board member Ken Humphrey asked what the “bare bones” cost would be.

The engineering site work, field, track and electrical work and anchors would come to about $1.6 million, Hoyt said.

Items such as the actual lights, bleachers and a press box could come later, he said.

Board member Brian First said that while the project has been largely labeled as a “track,” it was important to note that the synthetic turf portion is an estimated $600,000 to $750,000 .

“The biggest cost here is having that synthetic field in the middle,” First said.

Lou Daniels, a member of a committee that studied field use for the Board of Education, said he felt synthetic would be the way to go, since the town has limited places to develop fields and could get so much use out of one.

“We could handle the amount of traffic it would receive as a synthetic field,” he said.

And although the top surface eventually wears out the fields have come a long way, officials said. 

Ohanesian also brought up some other issues, including neighbors who may not relish the idea of extended hours of noise and lighting. The current plan calls for placing the field in the vicinity of the upper student parking lot, placing it near some homes in rear lots off of Dyer Avenue and a few on Simonds Avenue. 

Daniels said new style of LED lighting can be narrowly focused and is not as intrusive as traditional types.

He did acknowledge that there is some opposition and said some were not “as excited” about the track as he is.

Ohanesian also asked about public access to the facility when games were not in progress. Case said it’s not something that’s been discussed but other officials said track facilities in surrounding towns are generally open.

“If the public is going to spend a couple of million on a project there going to want to have access without any restrictions,” Ohanesian said.

The finance board did not make any decisions on the projects Monday but said that should it approve a bonding amount, there would be public hearings and informational meetings prior to the referendum.