Planning Commission Passes North Center School Proposal

Members of the Planning and Zoning Commission expressed concerns that a plan to sell, lease and then eventually buy back the North Center School is incomplete, but eventually voted Tuesday to let the plan to move forward.

Commissioners approved a request during a public meeting at Southington Town Hall that will allow the town to enter a contract with Borghesi Building and Engineering of Torrington and begin development of a site plan. The North Center School, located on North Main Street, would eventually be renovated as new and used to house both the Board of Education administrative offices and several town departments.

The request was approved in a 4-3 vote along party lines, with each of the four Republicans voting in favor of it.

“It’s not a complete plan, but it’s a start,” said Republican Michael DelSanto, chairman of the commission. “We live in a first-rate town, but our buildings are not second-rate or even third-rate."

“It makes a bad impression when businesses come to town hall and wonder, is this what Southington is like? This is an opportunity for the town to do something really good for the people of Southington,” he said.

Commission members had voted to table the vote during its Jan. 4 meeting, saying they did not have enough information. On Tuesday School Superintendent Joseph V. Erardi Jr. and Board of Education Chairman Brian Goralski apologized for any lack of communication and made a formal, 40-minute presentation to the commission.

Under the plan, the town would sell the school, which is currently unoccupied, to Borghesi Building and Engineering for $1 and would lease it back at a cost of $400,000 per year, according to Town Attorney Mark Sciota. The town could then buy the building back any time from eight to ten years later for $2.9 million.

Borghesi would then be responsible for renovating the facility as new to specifications determined by the town. The Board of Education offices would relocate from Beecher Street to the renovated building, along with the town’s planning, building, engineering and zoning departments.

Allan Borghesi, CEO of Borghesi Building and Engineering, said the design would incorporate individual needs determined through meetings with all involved department heads.

The facility will include a 20,000-square-foot top floor and 40,000-square-foot bottom level and would be both energy-efficient and cost-efficient, Borghesi said.

Town Engineer Anthony Tranquillo said that under the current plan – which Borghesi said is still “very much in the works” – the site would also offer ample parking with 125 dedicated spaces, including handicapped parking. It would also include a  meeting room that would seat 126 people and address planning needs, and would allow the town to address traffic concerns that already exist on Main Street.

“There is already a plan in place that would align the entrance up, creating a four-way intersection at Hobart Street,” Tranquillo said.

Republican Paul Chaplinsky said he likes the plan but also suggested before voting in favor of it that the town stop to determine if there are more appropriate departments to pair with the Board of Education in the building, once it is completed.

Not all commissioners spoke in favor of the plan. Democrats Francis Kenefick, Zaya G. Oshana and James Sinclair voted against the request.

“I love this town. I’ve lived here my whole life and I respect the people here,” Kenefick said. “This type of plan was knocked down on two referendums and now we are skirting around that referendum to force this through.”

Oshana said although he thinks it’s a great idea to bring the town and school administrators together – a selling point that both Erardi and Goralski have made on multiple occasions – he said the plan in too incomplete.

“We are essentially trading one vacant building in for another and without knowing exactly what the future holds. That’s my problem,” Oshana said. “It’s great in concept, but we’ve seen before that things can change."