Committee picking up where project left off

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The town-owned property at 35 Wolfe Ave. in Beacon Falls. –LUKE MARSHALL

BEACON FALLS — Officials have begun to lay out a path on how to move forward with building a new media and community center on town-owned property on Wolfe Avenue.

Voters approved purchasing the house and property at 35 Wolfe Ave. for $425,000 in August 2008. According to the resolution at the time, the town intended to use the property for a library or other community service.

In August 2010, the now-defunct Wolfe Avenue Lewis House Exploratory Committee recommended razing the house, which used to be the home of Tracy Lewis, the president of the Beacon Falls Rubber Shoe Co. The plan was to construct a new library and community center in its place.

Although officials have had discussions on how to proceed, nothing major has been done to the house since. Most recently it has been used for training by Beacon Hose Company No. 1.

The town recently established the new Community/Media Center Building Committee to pick up where the project left off.

Last week, the committee approved a request for $60,000 in the 2017-18 budget to pay for architectural designs.

Selectman Michael Krenesky, who is acting chairman of the committee, said getting architectural designs is a vital first step for the project.

“If we don’t have the funding in place for that, there is no sense in doing other steps,” Krenesky said.

A request for $40,000 for the work was discussed when officials crafted the 2016-17 budget. However the money wasn’t included in the budget because there was no clear direction for the project.

Now that the committee has begun looking into what its needs for architectural drawings, the cost may be closer to $60,000, Krenesky said.

First Selectman Christopher Bielik said the request for the money will be considered along with every other budget request. He said it is too soon to say whether it will be one of the town’s top priorities.

“It is way too early to speculate on the level of internal support something like that will have and how it will be received,” Bielik said this week.

Board of Finance Chairman Joe Rodorigo said the board wanted to see that there was public support for the project, either through a referendum or public meeting and vote, before committing to funds for architectural plans. Since this hasn’t happened yet, he said it is unlikely the board will change its position.

Krenesky said the committee wants to get an accurate estimated cost for the building before presenting information to the public.

“I don’t know how the public is going to support it if we can’t tell them an overall cost,” Krenesky said.

The committee is also seeking the status of a $50,000 bond taken out for potential work when the property was purchased and the results of a recent walkthrough of the property.

According to Krenesky, the town used about $21,000 of the bond for an architectural study in 2010. He’s unsure if any more of the money had been used for other projects.

“We are formally asking the Board of Selectmen if there are any funds left. They might have been used but we are trying to establish what we need for a budget,” Krenesky said.

In early December, the Wallingford-based Belfor Property Restoration did a walkthrough of the house to produce a report on any issues, such as possible asbestos, at the house, Krenesky said. The committee has not seen the results of the walkthrough yet, he said.

As of Tuesday, Bielik said the town hadn’t received the results back from the walkthrough.

Krenesky said the hope is to have the new center open by the town’s 150th anniversary celebration in 2021. While that hope still stands, it is becoming clear the town will have to act fast to make it happen.

“I think we are a year behind the original schedule. We don’t have all the designs in place to hand to an architect. Assuming the building project might be three years in length, and we are four years away, we have a very narrow window,” Krenesky said.