‘Mothballing’ Plans Poised To Begin—

Empty Buildings In Line For Repairs

By Kendra Bobowick

Haunted with cobwebs and swirls of dust, empty hallways and rooms that have been closed since the 1980s have also been visited with water damage growing worse by the year. Efforts advanced Monday to preserve, or mothball, certain buildings at the Fairfield Hills campus, however.

“The mothballing will make sure the buildings are water-tight,” said Fairfield Hills Authority Chairman Robert Geckle, following the meeting. O&G Industries Inc Preconstruction Manager Scott Baillie told authority members, “We are in a position to put this work out to bid and can probably proceed by the next meeting.” Meetings are scheduled monthly, and the authority regularly meets the third Tuesday at 7:30 pm in Town Hall South. This month’s meeting had been rescheduled to Monday evening.

Considering the estimated costs of $610,000, Mr Baillie offered more good news saying, “Building by building we are in line with the master plan.” Hard costs will occur when the bids come back, Mr Geckle explained.

Earlier this year the authority had given the nod to O&G to organize inspections of various buildings including Plymouth, Bridgeport, Newtown, Woodbury, and Stratford Halls. As inspections progressed, the authority altered plans slightly to eliminate work at Plymouth Hall.

Mr Geckle explained, “We’re not going to mothball Plymouth. It is slated for demolition.”

He and authority members are working on an engineer’s advice. “It’s structurally not sound and we would be wasting money to do [mothballing],” he said.

Mothballing work will involve repairing water damage to the roofing and water in the basement, Mr Geckle said, and complete two critical tasks.

“Number one is to make sure no water is infiltrating through the roof, windows, or ground,” he said. Damage could be the result of clogged drains, for example, he said. Second, “You have to provide ventilation, it’s absolutely essential that there is air movement,” he said. “That is key.”

This project should be out to bid by next month’s meeting. Mr Geckle hopes to see the project completed in coming months.

“Our target was to finish work before cold weather,” he said. He would like to see the work, “completed by winter.”