Hurdles loom before workers can break ground for Eastern Greenwich Civic Center plan
GREENWICH — Construction of a new Eastern Greenwich Civic Center took another step forward but major questions remain, including whether construction money will be approved and how much will be privately financed.
On Tuesday, the Board of Estimate and Taxation Budget Committee quickly and unanimously endorsed releasing $530,000 to finalize the design and get the project ready to go out to bid. A full BET vote is still needed.
“We look forward to getting this new civic center out to bid,” Budget Committee Chair Leslie
Tarkington said Tuesday.
Last week, however, tensions rose over the $18.6 million price tag for the actual construction, which will be in the 2021-22 municipal. The money was approved, but with a caveat: It can only be spent if the town is able to first secure “substantial” private money for a public-private partnership on the project.
The BET’s majority Republicans were in favor of the condition, saying it had been done for other past town projects including the new municipal pool and the Bendheim Western Greenwich Civic Center. Democrats, on the other hand, objected, saying the term “substantial” was too arbitrary and it potentially could be a roadblock for a project that the community has been waiting decades for.
Greenwich First Selectman Fred Camillo has expressed optimism he will be able to secure support for a public-private partnership. No official announcements have been made yet.
The Representative
Town Meeting will consider the civic center construction money as part of the $450 million municipal budget at its May 10 meeting.
Under the current design plan, the existing two-story 31,765-square- foot civic center, which was originally built in 1950, would be torn down and replaced by a new one-story 35,418square-foot building.
The new building would include a full-size multiuse gymnasium with rollout spectator seating, 8,100 square feet of multi-use event space and three 1,000-square-foot activity rooms, two of which would share a partition that could be opened up to create a larger room.
If the $530,000 is OKed by the full BET Monday, the next step will be to have the final design drawings completed by TSKP Studio, LLC in the late summer or early fall, town Superintendent of Building and Maintenance Alan Monelli said.
Before the actual construction, the current tenants will need to be relocated because the existing building is being demolished.
“We have to close the civic center,” Monelli said. “We have to move the Old Greenwich-Riverside Community Center offices out of there and determine when we have to tell them they have to start looking for a new location. A lot of that is hinges on what’s going to be approved in the (May budget vote). Then we will go from there.”
Once the building is closed and clear, asbestos abatement will be needed, Monelli said.
He circled January 2022 for a possible groundbreaking.