Flatto: Town Can "Shave Back" Some Metro Center Work if Bids are High

First Selectman Ken Flatto told the Representative Town Meeting this week that the town could "shave back" work on some public portions of the Fairfield Metro Center project if bids come in high.

Or, Flatto said, town bodies may be asked for more money, though he added he didn't want to do that.

Flatto, responding to a question from Ed Bateson, R-3, cited construction of 148 spaces by a proposed "Commuter Waiting Area" building as one of the elements that could be shaved back, and he followed up with Fairfield Patch today by saying some landscaping and lighting also may fall into that category.

"The estimated project cost was roughly envisioned to be about $25 million, plus some soft costs," Flatto told the RTM Monday night. "Our belief is, and hope is, the funds allocated are sufficient to cover the work involved. It's a good bidding environment."

"The state DOT [Department of Transportation] said their budget is limited to $19.4 million. The process was done a year and-a-half ago. The state is confident, and that makes us confident, the budget is real. If there is a few million dollars of risk on the site unforeseen, the town has the right to look at pieces that could be shaved back, such as the waiting area [for commuters]," Flatto said. "Or we could go to town bodies and say there is this differential."

The town's bid solicitation about two weeks ago estimated the construction cost of public portions of the Fairfield Metro Center as $24 million to $26 million. But in the agreement between the town and DOT, signed by Flatto on March 18, the estimated cost of construction was identified as $29,643,564, which includes anticipated expenditures of up to $300,000 for services to be provided by the state.

Two portions of the agreement between the town and state, quoted below, that speak directly to Bateson's question fall under the heading THE STATE AND MUNICIPALITY MUTUALLY AGREE: (caps in agreement)

"(23) That the bond authorization in the amount of Nineteen Million Four Hundred Thousand Dollars ($19,400,000) shall be the maximum participation by the State, which includes the cost of Three Hundred Thousand Dollars ($300,000) for State provided services and Nineteen Million One Hundred Thousand Dollars ($19,100,000) for reimbursement to the Municipality for the State-Town Project. Any and all additional costs for the State-Town Project will be the responsibility of the Municipality. The Municipality shall not use any of the Nineteen Million One Hundred Thousand Dollars ($19,100,000) for other than the State-Town Project."

"(32) That the total estimated cost for the construction phase of the State-Town Project is Twenty-nine Million Six Hundred Forty-three Thousand Five Hundred Sixty-four Dollars ($29,643,564), which includes anticipated expenditures of up to Three Hundred Thousand Dollars ($300,000) for services to be provided by the State. The maximum amount of reimbursement to the Municipality under the terms of this agreement is Nineteen Million One Hundred Thousand Dollars ($19,100,000)."

The town has about $29.6 million for work on public portions of the Metro Center project, which were identified about two weeks ago in the town's bid solicitation as sitework; grading; utilities; drainage; construction of an access road from the base of a state Department of Transportation bridge, across the 35.5-acre property and onto Black Rock Turnpike; retaining walls; a commuter parking lot of 1,300 to 1,500 spaces for rail commuters; remediation and capping of contaminated soils on the property; and wetland mitigation.

The Commuter Waiting Area wasn't identified in the town's bid solicitation as one of the elements of work to be performed, though it is included in a "closing letter" between Blackrock Realty and the town as work that could be done if bidding were favorable.

The town previously received bids for an inspector to oversee construction work on public portions of the Metro Center project; the bids ranged from $762,000 to $1.513 million. The town also may have to take $361,000 from the overall $29.6 million for improvements to off-site intersections. The town awarded a contract for that work to Guerrera Construction Co. in Oxford at a cost of $2.561 million, according to the town's Purchasing Department, and had received $2.2 million in federal stimulus money, according to town officials.

The $29.6 million is made up of $19.4 million from the state ($300,000 of which is in services to be provided), $5.2 million from Blackrock Realty, LLC, the private developer, and $5 million that Flatto said was left over from an initial funding request of $6 million approved by town boards several years ago.

Bids for the construction work were originally due at 11 a.m. June 2 in Sullivan-Independence Hall. The Purchasing Department's home page, accessible via the town's Web site, www.fairfieldct.org, said tonight that the bids are due at 11 a.m. June 9, as did an addendum document to the bid package.

Bateson said town officials ought to put the town's Conservation Department back on the project to ensure conditions of a permit from the town's Inland Wetlands Commission were adhered to during construction work on public portions of the Fairfield Metro Center site at 21 Black Rock Turnpike. Flatto had removed the Conservation Department from the project in December 2007 after Kurt Wittek and Aaron Stauber, managing directors of Blackrock Realty, threatened to sue the town, claiming the Conservation Department was holding up the project.

Flatto on Monday night declined Bateson's suggestion that the Conservation Department be returned to an oversight role on the project now that Blackrock Realty is essentially out of the picture as far as doing work on public portions of the project.

"There is still a private owner of the site and there are still things the private owner has to do with the site. Things that led to the controversy are still there. The town attorney does not want to see anything that causes consternation and potential exposure by the town," Flatto said. He didn't explain what Blackrock Realty still had to do in the way of public portions of the site.

Bateson replied, "I think if we're in charge, we should set an example for what everyone else in town should be doing."

Flatto told the Inland Wetlands Commission earlier this month that Redniss & Meade, the consultant hired by the town to replace the Conservation Department, would remain as the commission's site monitor on the project.

The Fairfield Metro Center envisions the town's third train station, 1,300 to 1,500 rail commuter parking spaces and nearly 1 million square feet of commercial development on 35.5 acres at 21 Black Rock Turnpike.

The agreement from last month, in which the overall $29.6 million in funding was announced, came about because Blackrock ran into financial difficulties and couldn't do work it was required to do under a 2003 agreement among the town, DOT and Blackrock Realty.