Community Corner

Town Nearing Move to North Center School

After several delays in the process, town departments will soon be able to make their move and the building could be fully operational before the end of August.

Since the shovel hit the ground in the effort for Borghesi Building and Engineering to transform the old North Center School into the new home for the Board of Education and some Southington town offices, the construction group has met a seemingly endless number of challenges.

With the asbestos removed from the windows and the state Department of Transportation recently approving a final traffic plan, however, the town is finally ready to move forward and begin moving in to it’s new home on North Main Street.

The town will begin moving into the building on July 24, starting with the planning, zoning and economic offices and Borghesi anticipates that construction on the lower level will be completed before the end of the month, Garry Brumback said this week.

“These departments will move in first, followed by the Board of Education. The most critical piece of their move will be the server and Borghesi has agreed to provide poly in order to prevent dust as they complete their work,” Brumback said.

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In a letter to the Southington Town Council and town staff, Assistant Town Engineer Annette S. Turnquist said the Board of Education would be able to start the move from the Beecher Street building in early August. and the would be the last two to move with a goal of everyone being fully functioning in the building by the end of August.

The move is almost two years in the making, after early concerns regarding the project led to delays before the construction phase could even get underway.

Members of the Planning and Zoning Commission including Paul Chaplinsky and Steve Kalkowski expressed concerns regarding how the move would affect the downtown area, .

But once construction started, town officials said there were numerous challenges.

Those challenges led to delays that led to a July 1 estimated move date and later pushed the date back further. Brumback said Monday these delays have finally come to an end.

The Department of Transportation passing a finalized traffic restructuring plan at the intersection of Hobart Street and North Main Street. The outside construction won’t be completed by the time the building opens, but with a separate entrance on Mill Street, it will be functional, he said.

“On Tuesday of last week, the DOT granted approval. Since the new entrance is still under construction, the highway department will clean the Mill Street entrance and both trim and cut vegetation as necessary,” he said.

With the delays, there is some good news, however. Councilman Christopher Plamieri questioned how the town would be refunded for delays during this week’s council meeting. Brumback said the town would only pay a prorated rate for the time they were in the building.

“We will see a savings over the next two months, which will allow us to put the remaining funds back into the 2012-13 contingency,” he said.

“These departments will move in first, followed by the Board of Education. The most critical piece of their move will be the server and Borghesi has agreed to provide poly in order to prevent dust as they complete their work,” Brumback said.

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