(Ken Borsuk photo)
Completion date for school still cloudy
Breaking news Posted 7:35 p.m., July 8, 2008
With a deadline looming for the Board of Education to make a decision, uncertainty over the completion date of Hamilton Avenue School continues to cloud the picture.
At a meeting of the project’s building committee Tuesday morning, town building official William Marr said some of last week’s final inspections of the building’s west wing passed, but other parts still weren’t complete to town requirements, and other areas needed corrections.
“We’re going to have to re-inspect some of the areas in that wing,” Mr. Marr said. “We’re hoping [project contractor Worth Construction] learned what we are looking for, what needs to be completed, at which stage it needs to be, and the violations that were pointed out last week in the west wing are corrected ahead of time in the east wing.”
The east wing inspections were scheduled for Tuesday. Mr. Marr spoke to the Post Tuesday afternoon and reported that not all the inspections for the east wing could go as planned because “some of the items that needed to be completed weren’t completed.” An inspection of the north wing is scheduled to take place next week. It is up to Worth to reschedule inspections for the areas that weren’t ready or had issues.
Project manager Gerard Adam said if the issues were not addressed, the committee would have to sit down with Worth and discuss it....
....The inspections are needed for the project to receive a temporary certificate of occupancy (TCO), which means children could occupy it. In order to get one, it must pass electric, plumbing, heating and cooling systems, and overall building inspections from the town. The project must also pass muster with the town’s fire department, health department and highway department, as well as with special inspectors hired by the building committee.
“We’re at the mercy of the contractor here,” Mr. Marr told the committee. “We can only inspect what’s completed. How long it takes them to do that is really beyond our control.”
“It’s very clear what they need to do,” committee member Thomas Heagney said at the meeting. “They just need to do it.”......
....The committee is still awaiting the delivery of steel panels for the construction, which might not arrive until early August. However, Mr. Mazza said, that wouldn’t have any impact on whether the building is open at the start of the school year since the building has already been “aired out” of all toxic residue from paint and construction and it will be safe for children as soon as the TCO is in order. Mr. Maher indicated the delivery delay wouldn’t impact the inspections negatively as long as the building is watertight.
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