Penfield Pavilion's July 1 Reopening in Doubt

Heavy snowfalls in December and January did more than bust the town Department of Public Works' snow-removal budget - they impacted the reopening of a summertime hot spot as well.

Penfield Pavilion, whose center and westerly sections are being rebuilt in a $3.28 million project, may not re-open as planned on July 1.

James Gallagher, chairman of the Penfield Pavilion Building Committee, said Friday that completion of the pavilion's reconstruction is about three weeks behind schedule due to the snow-heavy winter, which diverted DPW workers onto plow trucks and other snow-removal chores instead of working on the foundation for the pavilion's new center and westerly sections. (The pavilion's easterly section was rebuilt in 2008 for $1.5 million, $400,000 of which was covered by a state grant.)

Gallagher said it was DPW policy that "all hands are on deck" for snowplowing and shoveling by hand when a major snowstorm strikes, as it has at least four times this winter.

The DPW demolished the center and westerly sections of Penfield Pavilion and is building foundations for the new structure. Then, the project was to be turned over to A. Secondino & Son, Inc. in Branford, which will rebuild the facility.

Along with all the snow, the frigid temperatures also have impaired efforts to build the foundation because concrete doesn't cure properly when it's less than 20 degrees outside, Gallagher said.

The construction schedule, which had called for the foundation to be done by Christmas, also was delayed because a geotechnical engineer recommended over-excavating the site due to peat where new sections would be built. Water existed three to four feet deep after the over-excavation and the area had to be backfilled with stone, according to minutes of the most recent Penfield Pavilion Building Committee meeting.

To combat the frigid temperatures, DPW workers installed tents around areas where concrete was to be poured and heated those tents so work on the project could continue when the temperature was below 20 degrees, according to Gallagher.

Also, A. Secondino & Son, Inc. is building walls for the new pavilion sections off-site in a warehouse to save time and will cart the walls to the site for installation, instead of building them on the pavilion's 323 Fairfield Beach Road property, Gallagher said.

Gallagher said he is extremely impressed, not only with the DPW crews working in terrible conditions but in the craftsmanship that they have. "This is something only better contractors in Connecticut could do, let alone a Public Works' department," he said. "For our local Public Works' department to be undertaking a project like they're doing just amazes me."

Meanwhile, the building committee decided not to install wave patterns on an exterior deck - the only aesthetic part of the new pavilion and one that was designed to break up the expanse of the deck. The committee decided it didn't have the money for the add alternate, which cost $20,000, and that it could be problematic to maintain if decking boards needed replacement.

A dispute between the building committee and Tree Warden Ken Placko over the removal of trees for a new handicapped-accessible ramp by the pavilion appears to be resolved, but Gallagher said he won't know that for sure until a landscaping plan is submitted and signed off by Placko. "We won't have anything in writing 'til we get a formal landscaping plan. We're in the process of doing that right now," Gallagher said.

Placko had thought the building committee planned to remove too many trees, but Placko and the committee settled on an alternative design for the handicapped-accessible ramp that spared some of the trees. The committee previously agreed to replace trees that are cut down for the ramp.

Linda Crowley, a building committee member and resident in the town's Fairfield Beach neighborhood, gave the committee a list of trees that are hardy and can survive in the unique conditions of the shoreline near Long Island Sound. Those include weeping cherry, Kwanzan cherry, royal purple smoke, Canadian red bud, dwarf Alberta spruce, boxwood, Kousa dogwood and pee gee hydrangea.

Oliver Nurseries on Bronson Road will be in charge of putting together a landscape plan at a cost of $1,500. The plan would require approval from the Town Plan and Zoning Commission, according to the building committee's minutes.