Before the Board of Education voted in favor of building a new school at Longbrook Park on April 11 Town Hall administration officials suggested that the BOE consider two choices: a) renovate Stratford High School at its current location, or b) build a new high school at Longbrook Park.
The site of Longbrook Park came up as a possibility when an informal working group responded to questions from the Board of Education about the availability of any property in Stratford that could accommodate a new high school, according to Chief of Staff Marc Dillon.
The working group consisted of Town of Stratford Chief Administrative Officer Stephen Nocera, Dillon, Board of Education Chief Operating Officer Clarence Zachery, Stratford High School Principal Joe Corso, Town Engineer John Casey, Antinozzi Associates Architect George Perham, and Capitol Region Education Council Director John Meno, according to numerous sources.
One of the first responses to the Board of Education’s inquiry into potential building sites was for the Town to issue a request for proposals to see if any property owner wanted to sell to the Town. That “RFP” attracted no formal proposals, according to Casey, Dillon and Zachery. One property owner reportedly offered informally to sell land without buildings for $20 million, which Zachery said was a “non-starter.”
When the property-acquisition avenue came up empty, the question focused on what Town-owned property might be available and adequate. It was then that Casey mentioned Longbrook Park as potentially being of size to handle the desired 30-acre campus for a new high school, according to Zachery, Meno and Dillon.
Casey was not available for comment April 16 or 17.
After the idea of Longbrook Park arose town employees on the working group authorized Antinozzi Associates to determine of the site acreage could accommodate a new school. Antinozzi reportedly determined that the site would be large enough.
No other studies of the site were conducted, according to Dillon, such as traffic, environmental or neighborhood impact.
Dillon emphasized that the Longbrook Park site was given to the Board of Education by the working group without any recommendation about the merits of such a site.
Given a limited choice of renovating in place or building new at Longbrook, and given that the Board of Education felt pressured to act quickly due to impending June 30 deadlines from the state related Stratford obtain grant money, the BOE voted to recommend to the Town that they build new at Longbrook.
Part of the Board of Education’s considerations before their vote were that new construction would take two years, while renovation would take at least three years; a renovation of the current building has the potential for uncovering harmful contaminants, which would further disrupt education there; renovation cost is estimated at $90 million, before possible additional costs if contaminant remediation is required, and new construction cost is estimated at $99 million.
Based on the public outcry against taking away open park space for a new school and the Town Council voting unanimously to reject the use of Longbrook Park for a school, the BOE either did not investigate before their vote what the townspeople’s reaction would be to using Longbrook, or BOE decided that their role was to focus on educational aspects only and leave the vetting and public hearing to the Town Council.
Or both.
Part of Longbrook Park that was recommended by the Board of Education for a new high school as seen looking north from Pender’s Field. Greg Reilly photo.