Stamford school board grills officials over mold discovery at Westover

Ignacio Laguarda  STAMFORD — Expressing disappointment and frustration, a contingent of Stamford Board of Education members grilled city officials and contractors Tuesday night over the discovery of mold in Westover Magnet Elementary School.

The school has been closed for two years due to a widespread mold infestation in the building. Over that time, the interior has been gutted and renovated as part of a $24 million project that includes new mechanical upgrades as well as new floors and ceiling tiles.

BOE members Jackie Pioli, Fritz Chery, and Mike Altamura expressed dismay over the mold discovery, only two weeks before the school is scheduled to reopen.“My problem ... is trying to build trust and confidence for the families, the students, the teachers, the staff at Westover School that went through so much in the past two years,” Altamura said.

He added, “We let our Westover community down.”

Westover, located at 412 Stillwater Ave., closed in October of 2018 following air quality tests that detected mold. Students were relocated to an office building on Elmcroft Road owned by Building and Land Technology.

Once repairs were underway, workers found more mold than was originally expected at the school building. In February of 2019, the district announced the school would be closed for the entire 2019-20 school year and reopen in fall 2020.

On Tuesday, City Engineer Lou Casolo said he was informed of the presence of mold the day after he gave a presentation to the school board’s operations committee last week. He said a plan was quickly put into place to fix the issue, and the last bit of mold was removed on Tuesday.

He agreed with those who said the discovery of mold was unacceptable. But he added, “What’s unacceptable to me is to be told of a problem and not address it.”

Construction officials told the board that the water system in the building was improperly balanced, which created conditions that led to mold.

There was a restricted amount of chilled water going to ventilators in the building, they said. Without the appropriate amount of cold water, spaces in the building could not stay cool and dry during hot and humid summer days.

Chery asked who was responsible for balancing the air.

Anthony Gaglio, president of Viking Construction, said a balancing company was used as subcontractor, but he ultimately said Viking was responsible.

The school is still under the care and custody of Viking Construction, the contractor charged with cleaning the mold and getting the school ready for reopening.

Jill Walsh, a mechanical engineer and principal with OLA Consulting Engineers, said the unbalanced system allowed moist air to enter the building, which caused condensation on cool surfaces.

That, paired with the fact that the unit ventilators were inappropriately running on a mode that allowed air to enter the building 24 hours a day, allowed condensation to build, and mold spores grew on surfaces such as ceiling tiles.

Gaglio said Viking was picking up the tab for the extra abatement effort.

The project hygienist, Meredith Febbraio, collected samples from ceiling tiles in rooms 120, 121, and 122 and pipe insulation last week. On Thursday, lab results confirmed that the samples contained mold.

Casolo said the growth was minor, however. He described it as “speckled,” as opposed to heavy.

He said a “post-monitoring plan” is in development and will include periodic checks from a hygienist.

Walsh added that temperature and humidity sensors would be installed above ceilings at the school — which is where the mold was newly discovered — to make sure such an occurrence doesn’t happen again.

Pioli questioned why such sensors weren’t part of the original plan, given the building’s history.

“If I had a house and it burned down from a fire, I might put in extra fire alarms,” Pioli said.

Walsh said that’s because such a measure is uncommon.

“I’ve been doing this for almost 30 years, and I’ve never come across a situation where we had to put humidity or temperature sensors above a hung ceiling,” she said.

Nonetheless, she said such sensors would be installed “because of heightened concern and the assurance that we want to get across to everyone that this will not happen again.”

The only board member who spoke in defense of Viking and the city’s efforts to clean the mold was Dan Dauplaise.

“Everything I’ve heard from the Viking representative and the city engineering office is that they remediated the problem, which seems to be minor, with all due speed and care,” he said.

He added, “In contrast to some of the other members who want to point fingers, I think both the city and Viking ... have done a very good job.”

Mayor David Martin also said Viking was “extremely responsive” to the issue.

“The problem is gone,” he said.

Martin said he believed it was “inappropriate” for board members to speculate about who is at fault unless the city conducts a full investigation.

He said Viking has the right to make claims for certain expenses, which will be adjudicated later.

“For us to speculate at this time does not help the city’s case,” he said.

Brownfield work to clear way for waterfront revitalization in Middletown

Casandra Day  MIDDLETOWN — Visitors to Harbor Park may have seen the start of construction there, addressing brownfields, erosion and other issues as the first steps of the decades-long effort to revitalize the city’s precious riverfront begins.

In 2016, Middletown won a $2.6 million Urban Act Grant from the state Department of Economic Development to begin the planning, assessment and remediation, according to Amy Vaillancourt of Middletown-based Tighe & Bond. She is an expert in brownfields remediation.

A brownfield is a property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant, according to the EPA.

Extensive permitting was required for work to begin at Columbus Point and the boathouses because they fall within a floodplain, Vaillancourt said. Renovations were sorely needed for the “fatigued” area.

“In front of the boathouse was notorious. It’s not paved, there was always erosion. The riverfront is fill material — it was made over time. It used to be water,” she said.

These efforts will “set the foundation for being able to reclaim the waterfront as a community resource, gathering place and public asset,” according to John Hall, executive director of The Jonah Center. He said the Connecticut River waterfront was not always valued for its recreational and scenic purposes as much as it is today.

Pollution was rampant. “In years past, it was the primary means of transportation. In the industrial age, it became a waste disposal system,” for nearby industries beginning in the mid-19th century, Hall said.

Presently, grading, paving and the creation of an eight-foot-wide, handicap accessible walkway is taking place to better accommodate visitors.

“It’s all overgrown, you’ve got no good access to the water or views, but, yet, it’s got one of the nicest viewable spots in Middletown,” Vaillancourt said. Now, that the area is being cleared out, “it’s amazing,” she said of the transformation.

The river at Harbor Park, formerly an unsightly area, Hall said, is now used for fishing, and by bicyclists, walkers and other outdoor enthusiasts. “Our river quality has improved enormously in the past 30, 40 years.”

A report by the Project for Public Spaces was adopted by the Middletown Riverfront Redevelopment Committee into the city’s Plan of Conservation and Development about five years ago.

The New York-based agency, whose mission is creating and sustaining public places that build communities, according to its website, recommended the project begin with the boathouse land.

It is considered an “anchor” of the riverfront, Vaillancourt said. “The area has an industrial history and environmental challenges.”

Presently, bank stabilization is needed to fix erosion at Columbus Point. “It’s really bad,” she said.

In June, public works crews removed the Christopher Columbus statue into temporary storage ahead of the work. That happened to coincide with incidents across the nation at the time, during which statues of what some people perceive to be controversial were taken down.

Portions of the original bulkhead there, partially removed following the Flood of 1955, are still in place.

“We have a good base. All we have to do now, especially because it’s been so dry, is work the exposed portion of the bank. We’re using big revetment stones to build that up, and make it more able to take flooding, river action, and [withstand] the debris that sometimes floats down the river,” Vaillancourt said.

What’s now Harbor Park once had petroleum, gasoline and coal-storage facilities, as well as various mills, Hall said.

“Old timers would tell me, in the 20s, 30s and 40s, they would see dead animals floating down the river and all kinds of trash,” he said. That changed with the adoption of the Clean Water Act of 1972, when a national effort to clean up waterways was begun in earnest.

At one time, industrial businesses , dumped adhesives and petroleum-based cleaning solvents into the ground. Across the river in Portland, facilities that store oil and gas also tainted the water, Hall said.

Many factors led to the need for redress, Hall said. Tiny amounts of asphalt seep into the river, and vehicle oil drips from parking lots. Tires also leave minute amounts of rubber on the pavement.

“A lot is coming from the transportation sector these days,” Hall said.

All that washes into the water and is eaten by small organisms, such as shellfish, which are then consumed by larger fish and could pose a hazard to those fishing the area.

Nearby Sumner Brook contains petroleum-related contaminates, as well as arsenic, Hall said. There are also areas with broken-up concrete slabs that need to be removed.

There is a very steep slope at the brook, Vaillancourt said, requiring a need for permanent stabilization. Plans are for a little walkway to be built from the point, over the brook, and connecting to the Peterson Oil property around the corner on River Road.

The city Planning, Conservation and Development office will be taking bids for a consultant to create a master plan in the near future, including creation of maps and compilation of data, Hall said.

He expects public forums and charrettes to follow sometime next year. “We’ve got a ways to go.”

The city has become a blueprint for brownfield remediation throughout the state, Vaillancourt said. “Middletown has been the model for a lot of other municipalities for what it takes to plan and move forward.”

The city boasts several success stories, including the removal of contaminates at the old Remington Rand building off Johnson Street, she said.

Portion of Willis Street to be discontinued as public road to incorporate campus of Arts Magnet School

Susan Corica  BRISTOL – The City Council has voted to discontinue a portion of Willis Street as a public road to incorporate it into the campus of the planned Memorial Boulevard Intradistrict Arts Magnet School. The portion is between South Street and Memorial Boulevard, behind the school building.