Date: Fri 01-Mar-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: STEVEB

Quick Words:

high-school-project-delayed

Full Text:

Vote On High School Project Delayed

B Y S TEVE B IGHAM

Superintendent of Schools John R. Reed said a problem with Newtown High

School's septic system could set back the Berkshire Road school's $26.5

million expansion at least five or six months.

The septic glitch surfaced two weeks ago when the Department of Environmental

Protection (DEP) discovered high nitrate levels in groundwater in the high

school's surrounding area (Oakview Road). The state conducted the tests in

conjunction with the school's application for an expansion to the current

system.

School officials now say that a town vote on the project must be put off. Dr

Reed said he doesn't see the project going before the Legislative Council

anytime before August and predicts the plan will end up going out to bid in

late June or early July.

The superintendent said a referendum on the project probably won't be until

the fall.

School board chairman Herb Rosenthal said he's instructed the bidding for the

$3.5 million Hawley School addition to go forward, despite the delay at NHS.

"We would certainly not hold up one project because of the other, though we

would have liked to present the two projects together," Mr Rosenthal

explained.

More than 20 years ago, there was a landfill in the vicinity of the high

school and school officials had suggested that the high nitrate levels could

have come from that area to the north of the school grounds. However, the DEP

said it would be almost impossible to prove that the problem didn't come from

the high school septic system.

At least two alternatives have been discussed as a means of rectifying the

problem prior to the NHS construction. One solution, though considered to be

very expensive and laborious, would be to hook the school up to the town's

municipal sewer line. The other alternative, expected to cost "several hundred

thousand dollars," according to Warren Herzig of the DEP, would be to use

on-site nitrate elimination filters.

Water Pollution Control Authority Chairman Peter Alagna said he's leaning

toward using on-site nitrate elimination filter instead of hooking into the

town's municipal sewer system, calling it more cost effective.

Newtown's Planning & Zoning Commission approved the high school's

site-development plan February 15.