Developers seek to keep Bassick in West End, Ganim says 'no.'

Brian Lockhart

BRIDGEPORT — A pair of prominent local West End developers have approached the city and asked it to reconsider moving Bassick High School to the South End given the need to fix the area’s flooding problems — work that will seriously delay school construction.

But Mayor Joe Ganim this week publicly rebuffed the idea of pivoting away from building the new high school on the campus of the University of Bridgeport.

The change was proposed by Gary Flocco and Geof Ravenstine of Corvus Capital Partners. The two had again offered Corvus’ former Hubbell factory for the school — a site rejected last year in favor of building the new $115 million Bassick on UB’s South End campus.

“When we read the newspaper article ... about potential issues with the new Bassick High School site, we reached out to let the city know that the West End site is still available,” the pair said in a statement for this story. “If it is helpful to the city and Board of Education in addressing this challenge, we would love to be a part of the solution.”

It is yet another twist in the future of Bassick, which has been in debate for years.

After eventually ruling out rebuilding the school where it has stood for 92 years, municipal officials in spring 2019 shifted their focus to Hubbell and openly pursued the purchase. That eight-acre site had just been acquired by Corvus as part of Flocco’s and Ravenstine’s master plan for new West End apartments and commercial space.

Then, last July, the Ganim Administration suddenly announced it was instead spending $6 million to buy just over six acres of land on UB’s campus for Bassick. With ground still to be broken, the $90.8 million the state awarded for Bassick in 2019 is set to expire this summer.

Konstantinos Diamantis, head of Connecticut’s school construction grants/review office and a key figure in the state’s school construction program that will approve and fund the bulk of the new Bassick, urged Bridgeport to re-submitt its application for the funds, which the state originally approved before the city decided to build the new school in the South End.

The city has done so, with the UB campus as the site.

Diamantis’ office and the state legislature ultimately will have to re-authorize the money. But with the General Assembly’s 2021 session having adjourned this week, that vote would have to come either in a special session later this year or, more likely, wait until 2022.

Over the past few months, questions have been raised about whether Bridgeport can proceed with Bassick’s construction at the same time as a massive federally-funded, state-managed flood mitigation effort for the South End. In the works for years, that initiative is scheduled to break ground in 2022 and last at least through 2023.

With all the uncertainty, Flocco and Ravenstine reoffered the Hubbell site.

Flocco in 2019 had said moving Bassick to the Hubbell site would enliven the neighborhood Corvus is developing by “having (hundreds of) students on the street and in the community (to) support some of the retail.” He also said he wanted to turn the current school into apartments.

But Ganim’s communications director, Rowena White, on Thursday said the city wasn’t interested in re-examining the Hubbell location.

“We appreciate Gary Flocco’s support and will continue to assist him with any future developments (but) the administration is committed to the current (South End) site,” she said.

John Weldon, chairman of the school board, said Friday that he recently submitted paperwork to Diamantis seeking approval to move ahead with demolishing some dormitories on the UB campus to prepare for Bassick’s construction. The land will also have to be raised 18 feet to meet federal flood-protection standards.

City Council President Aidee Nieves is a member of Bridgeport’s school construction committee, which includes other council colleagues and representatives from the school board, engineering, planning/economic development and finance departments. She also remains committed to the South End for the new Bassick.

“My concern would be the state school construction (office) would not support another move to another site,” she said. “At this time, the school building committee is committed to moving forward with the UB site.”

Indeed, Diamantis, told by Hearst Connecticut Media about Flocco and Ravenstine’s offer, warned the city that changing sites for a third time would test his patience and further delay the work.

“I would probably say, ‘Cancel this project until you figure out where to put it and someday when you decide ... give me a call,’” he told Hearst Connecticut Media this week.

Councilman Marcus Brown, a construction committee co-chairman, acknowledged Corvus’ renewed interest in keeping Bassick in the West End, but declined to divulge any details of his own private discussions on the matter. While not completely ruling out taking another look at Hubbell — “it needs to make ... fiscal sense if this is something we’re going to consider” — Brown added, “Most people I talk to want the site at UB just because of the opportunities it creates.”

Brown said he prefers the UB property for the access to athletic fields and for exposing future Bassick students to college life through mentoring/tutoring programs. He also noted the school district last month announced the Bridgeport Military Academy would be integrated into the new Bassick.

Should city officials change their minds, however, UB’s new owner, East Hartford-based Goodwin University, said it would be open to buying the six acres back from Bridgeport.

Goodwin’s takeover of UB was announced last July and the acquisition became final last month. In a statement, the school said, “We look forward to having Bassick High School adjacent to the ... campus.”

But, Goodwin officials added, “If the city were to decide to locate Bassick elsewhere, we would like the opportunity to reacquire the property.”

The university and the city currently are not involved in any negotiations, according to the statement from Goodwin.

Corvus Capital does have an ally in Joseph Ambrosini, business manager for the Laborers International Union of North America Local 665 in Bridgeport.

Ambrosini this week said he too has been urging the city to take another look at Hubbell, arguing the school will get built faster, providing plenty of work for his members and a much-needed new building for deserving students.

Ambrosini said the union is frustrated with how long it has already taken to break ground and worried about further delays from any complications with the state’s South End flooding project.

“My guys are waiting to go to work,” Ambrosini said. “Gary’s still willing to offer it (Hubbell), UB is willing to take the property back. We could be in the ground next year. Done.”

Corvus first invested in Bridgeport under Mayor Bill Finch but Flocco and Ravenstine have since forged a relationship with Ganim. The pair emphasized there would be no hard feelings if Bassick is ultimately built in the South End.

“We look forward to continuing to work together with the West End community and the city to bring positive development and growth to the neighborhood,” they said.

Linda Conner Lambeck

BRANFORD — The Board of Education appears poised to commission a feasibility study for an all-purpose field parents want to see at Walsh Intermediate School.

Superintendent of Schools Hamlet Hernandez has asked the board to put a discussion of hiring a firm to conduct the analysis on its June 16 agenda.

During a recent Communication Committee meeting, school board Chairman John Prins asked whether the study could be commissioned without board action.

Hernandez said a board vote would signal the importance of the project.

“The timing is good,” Hernandez added.

The move comes as construction of the $88.2 million Walsh school renovation and addition nears the finish line.

Playing fields that for the past two years have served as a construction zone are to be restored on the 29-acre site by the time students return to full in-person learning this fall.

Parents want more.

“A new multi-purpose field is needed ASAP and Walsh would be the best place” for it, Jim May, a lacrosse coach in town, told the board in a recent letter.

But the time to make a new field part of the existing project has passed.

Hernandez said the district would hire a consultant, similar to what it did before the Walsh renovation, to study not only the athletic program needs of the intermediate school, which serves the town’s entire fifth- through eighth-grade population, but town needs, as well.

“There is a distinction,” Hernandez said. “Types of teams at the intermediate school do not mirror teams and activities that clubs and Park and Rec offers.”

Located on Damascus Road, the school’s fields get a lot of use from the town, said board member Peter Berdon.

“That field never gets a break,” Berdon said. “It is why it’s in the condition its in. It’s why (parents) want an all-purpose turf field.”

Hernandez said the study would take into account both town and school needs since some interests overlap.

Some who have approached the town building committee, Hernandez said, have asked for a facility that includes lights and a grandstand.

“That is beyond the scope of needs for the school,” Hernandez said.

Board Member Tim Raynor said he liked the idea of a feasibility study. “The more data we can collect, the better the decision will be,” Raynor said.

“It would be great to move forward and make it happen,” Prins added.

Hernandez said he envisions the cost for the study being shared by the district and town.

First Selectman Jamie Cosgrove last month said he largely was supportive of putting a new field at Walsh but said the school board had to get the ball rolling.

That said, Cosgrove said a larger study of how playing fields townwide are utilized might be in order.

Parent Jennifer Orlando asked about timing.

Hernandez said the feasibility study for the Walsh project, done by Diversified Technology Consultants of Hamden, took 90 days but was much larger in scope.

“I am relatively confident we can do this quickly …but I am not an expert,” Hernandez said.

In the meantime, the school will have reestablished fields to use in the upcoming school year.

Architect fields questions, whittles down alternatives for police building project in New Canaan

Grace Duffield

After reviewing three alternatives, Brian Humes of Jacunski Humes Architects showed preliminary plans to the New Canaan Police Department Building Committee, saying renovating the existing facility is the best choice.

The architect showed the committee on June 10 plans to covert the 95-year-old police headquarters, originally retrofitted from an old school, to make it a “functional” and “user friendly” building at 174 South Ave.

He ruled out two other possible alternatives, which were erecting another structure behind the present one or demolishing either all or part of the building.

Erecting a new building behind the present one “no longer remains a viable option” because of density concerns on the property, since there is also the town’s EMS building, Schoolhouse Apartments for seniors and a cottage already on the land.

Humes also ruled out making plans for demolition, explaining that the only area they would be able to demolish is in the rear and he rejected that.

Committee members raised concerns about the history of water seepage into the building.

Humes said that he discovered that parts of the front wall were “literally buried” and the windows “have been infilled.”

Chairman Bill Whalberg was shocked, exclaiming that he “had no idea that was the case” and that he felt optimistic that the architect “could isolate the problem and fix it.”

Humes said the brick envelope of the building is porous, but a contractor would be able to address the problem.

He estimated the project would take up to 17 months to complete and said the cost projections will be discussed at the next meeting.

A separate building would be built behind the headquarters to house a firing range. They deemed this the “best practice” to have it detached from the headquarters as they cited difficulty in reducing the sound when in the same building.

“With the right kind of construction, we don’t let the noise go beyond the building,” Humes said.

He said the neighbors would not hear officers firing in the range, even “in the summer with the windows open.”

The range is planned to have five lanes. The architect said that if the plan is to build a firing range, it should be able to accommodate shooting classes.

“Five seems to be a preferred training class size,” Humes said.

On the main floor, Humes proposed creating a new vestibule, making enhancements to the public lobby and installing new public restrooms.

He proposed a renovation of the meeting room, used during crisis for emergency operations, and creating an additional room for the emergency operations center which would be “outfitted and maintained for video communications.”

With this addition, training classes could be held while the emergency operations center is in use, Humes said.

The dispatch area is not likely to be rejuvenated, as it was recently renovated and the department “seems to be satisfied,” Humes said. In general, current plans call for rooms that are used for utility, data and communication purposes to remain in the same location to reduce cost.

Downstairs, the prisoner processing would be reconfigured with a larger Sally port, where apprehended suspects are driven in and would utilize “the latest in booking rooms” equipment, modern cell construction and handicapped accessibility.

A new addition would house a training room, which would be two-and-a-half times the size of their present exercise training room. It would give the officers more physical training capabilities, including cardio equipment and weight training, Humes explained.

On that lower floor, a new male locker room would be installed with new lockers, new toilets and sinks for 45 male officers. There would be a separate new locker room with 10 new lockers for female officers with “all the amenities (that are) similar to the men’s,” Humes said.

Committee members Penny Rashin and Amy Murphy Carroll questioned if the facilities proposed for women would be enough, since the renovation is anticipated to last decades.

Rashin asked if any towns were having locker rooms where “certain portions of the locker rooms can be shared,” and since college dorms are often co-ed, “this is looking a bit twentieth century,” she said.

Humes said that smaller police departments have tried using co-ed locker rooms, but not larger ones.

Twenty percent female staffing levels is “progressive,” Humes said.

Murphy Carrol wondered out loud, “I don’t know if that is going to hold going forward.”

She added, “we should just think about that.”

“Right now (the departments) is 13 percent female,” with 9 female officers, “which is the highest we have ever been in history,” Police Chief Leon Krolikowski said. “It’s possible we could get to 20 percent or more.”

A large evidence storage containment area has also been proposed on the lower floor, in the space where the old shooting range area was located. Presently, evidence storage is “haphazard” with “multiple closets on multiple floors,” Humes said.

The one location for evidence storage allows for “better control,” with double-lock storage areas for narcotics, firearms and valuables, according to the architect.

During the renovation, the detective bureau and storage would be moved to an Irwin Park building, which has been discussed as a “swing space” at previous meetings.

The committee members said it would be better to move the officers out of the building and have other towns share their jail cell for the time being.

Humes agreed that keeping the officers in the building can be “tremendous challenge” but relocation can be very expensive.

Board of Finance and Building Committee member Amy Murphy Carroll said the town owns “a lot of space.” She helped essemble the “Building Use and Evaluation Committee Report in 2017, which listed six vacant town-owned buildings and several others that were underused.

The group decided they wanted to be sure to include time to have public hearings.

“So everybody can know what is going on,” Whalberg said.

He added that he does not want it rushed through in August

“They need to digest it and have the appropriate amount of time to think about it,” he said.