Major Capital Impovements Move Step Closer to Reality

Several major capital improvement projects, including the replacement of the Silver Street Bridge and upgrades to the high school and middle school athletic fields, moved a step closer to reality Monday when the Granby Board of Selectmen unanimously accepted the recommendations of the Capital Programs Priorities Advisory Committee.

CPPAC, which met prior to the selectmen meeting, recommended $11.4 million in town and school capital improvements, of which the town, if approved by voters at a January referendum, would bond $8.4 million after taking into account state and federal grants that the town is either eligible for or has already received.

The next step, according to Town Manager William Smith, is for the Board of Finance and the Board of Selectmen to approve a bonding resolution to pass on to voters.

A Town Meeting would be scheduled for Jan. 10, 2012, with the referendum to take place on Jan. 17, Smith said. Informational sessions will be held for residents on the projects beginning most likely after the new year, according to First Selectman John Adams.

The town projects (see the list below) up for consideration would cost a total of about $8 million, of which the town would be on the hook for about $5 million. The highest priority is the replacement of the 50-year-old Silver Street Bridge, a project that has been under consideration for nearly a decade.

Silver Street Bridge

Salmon Brook Pond House

$700,000

Cossitt Library Land

Library Roof

Tennis Courts Resurfacing

DPW Wash and Storage Bays

Sidewalk to SBP

Purchase of Evonsion Farm

 $5,055,000

There are two projects on the school side totalling $3.4 million: $165,000 for a high school electronics lab, which would be completed in the summer of 2012, and a $3.23 million upgrade to the athletic fields, which would be completed around the summer of 2013.

Included in the athletic field project is the following: $700,000 for a 6-lane track; $800,000 for an artificial field within the track; $350,000 for lighting of the track and field; $750,000 for a secondary artificial field; $250,000 for handicap accessible bleachers; $100,000 for fencing of the the fields; $50,000 for a press box; $175,000 project design and engineering; $60,000 in contingency.

Selectman Mark Neumann said that the fields, which are currently surfaced with natural grass, are showing their wear and tear due to frequent use. Artificial surfaces and lighting would extend the use for the 15 or so teams that practice and/or play on the fields.

In other business, the selectmen discussed a possible ordinance that would limit certain traffic on inter-town roads. The potential ordinance’s genesis came as a result of several trucks hitting the Dewey-Granby Oak on Day Street. No action was taken on the item, as further research needed to be conducted on the roads that would be subject to the ordinance and what type of vehicles would be restricted from using them.

Prior to the start of the selectmen’s meeting, all of the officials voted into office at the recent elections were sworn in.