News

Apr 24, 2023

Southington residents call for halt to library project

After Farmington voters approved a $136.4 million high school and Southington

After Farmington voters approved a $136.4 million high school and Southington voters agreed to build a $16.9 million library, the devastating impact of construction inflation hit: Up-to-date cost projections showed neither project could be done on budget.

Since then, the local governments employed very different solutions. Farmington has ended up with relatively content voters, while Southington appears to be sliding deeper into an angry partisan divide.

Southington's town council last year concluded that holding the line at $16.9 million was essential, leaving library planners to cut costs as necessary to meet that budget. A consultant had announced the original plan for building a 30,000-square-foot library was no longer feasible, but municipal leaders haven't publicly disclosed exactly how much the price has gone up.

Instead, the council's Republican majority endorsed downsizing the project by 30%: It's now planned for just 24,000 square feet. The original exterior plans, designed to blend in with historic buildings nearby, have been revised to be significantly more austere — but also less expensive.

There's been growing pushback from a contingent of residents who say Southington doesn't want an undersized, unattractive library, and instead should get the chance to vote for retaining the original design — and paying more taxes to cover the overruns. But others argue that taxpayers simply can't afford to spend more.

Democrats embraced the idea, and late last month called for stopping the downsized plan from going out to bid. Instead, the town should convene a public hearing to see if there's support for a new referendum giving voters the choice between paying more for the 30,000-square-foot version, advancing with the 24,000-square-foot plan or even researching if remodeling the old library makes financial sense now, said Councilor Jack Perry, a Democrat.

"When this went out to referendum, we didn't know we’d have all this inflation," Perry said at an April council meeting. "Now we’re kind of going backwards. What we’re asking is to pause it. Getting (public) input, pausing this, is allowing democracy."

The Republican majority voted down that idea, saying it's important to go forward with the $16.9 million that the voters have already funded. Drafting new plans now or delaying construction further would just add expense, they said.

"I was told by my father ‘a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush,'" said Republican Paul Chaplinski Jr., council vice chairman. "If we go back with any question to the residents, it's going to cost us if the proposal is not accepted.

"All the money we’ll use to redesign and start all over again and go through all the planning and zoning approvals will come off the $16.9 we have to spend and we might end up with an even smaller (building)," Chaplinski said. "We are at the point where we’re going out to bid. We cannot afford unknowns to adversely affect the value that our residents are going to get."

Numerous residents on Southington Facebook pages have begun slamming the current design as cheap, ugly and inadequate for the future, and Democrats are complaining that the GOP majority is steamrolling an unpopular project just to start construction before Election Day. Republicans say they’re following the will of voters who approved the $16.9 million referendum.

By contrast, there has been no sign of political division in Farmington, where the town council is also predominantly Republican. Chairman C.J. Thomas has pointedly worked to get consensus from Democrats and Republicans alike on the council as well as the school board, and last winter put together a united front in support of spending more to cover the high school budget overrun.

Farmington's council held a referendum on what to do about the deficit: Taxpayers could either approve an additional $9.7 million to build the full high school as initially planned, or vote to hold the line — and then scale back the project. The council promised a school would still be built for the original budget, but cautioned that planners would have to axe some amenities, swap in cheaper materials and reduce floor space.

Both political parties endorsed spending the extra money, and the referendum passed 1,787 to 815. Construction is now well advanced.

"We were all on the same page. When we saw the cost numbers moving, we knew the only way to get the project that the voters originally approved was to work together and explain what we needed," Thomas said Thursday. "The town had a history with the high school of kicking the can down the road, and the last thing any of us wanted was to take a short cut when we were so close to building the state-of-the-art high school that people want."

The town held a "topping off" ceremony Saturday morning, during which contractors placed a ceremonial steel beam in place to mark the completion of the structural work.

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