By Leon Mularski, Haddam Zoning Enforcement Officer, and Bob McGarry, Haddam First Selectman
(May 16, 2024) — The former Haddam Elementary School building is in good condition; the foundation and structure have years of life left. The infrastructure of the building, which includes but is not limited to, the mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) systems does not. The building has no air conditioning. The HVAC (Heating Ventilating and Air Conditioning) systems, steam heating, plumbing, and electrical systems date back from 35 years for the 1989 addition to 76 years when HES was built (1948).
The gymnasium is a typical elementary school gym, with no seating or places for the teams to assemble. The floor must be replaced and the subfloor, a concrete slab, has moved and will need repair.
For the gym to conform to today’s standards and meet the demands of all age groups, in its simplest form, it would have to be enlarged, or a new gym built with supporting amenities, i.e., bathroom facilities, locker rooms, seating including HC accessibility. It was a perfect environment for grammar school use, but falls far short of a public assembly area. If you have had a chance to attend any sporting events in our town, you’ve seen the number of people who support the children; the interaction among the grandparents, the parents and children is undeniable. The school’s present gym cannot meet any of the space requirements.
Just because a building is in use doesn’t mean it complies with the current building code. When the building code is revised, existing buildings are usually exempt from complying until either the use is changed or until the building undergoes a major renovation. The last major renovation of HES was in 1989. Code changes since then include, but aren’t limited to, complying with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), requiring low flow toilets and other energy efficiency features, and revised ventilation requirements as a result of the pandemic. At a minimum, to make the building code-compliant for public use, the following work would have to take place.
- Complete the re-roofing; at this point only about half of the roof has been done.
- Remove and replace all the windows with energy efficient units.
- The interior finishes of the building, except for the glazed masonry blocks, will have to be completely upgraded and refinished, including floors, walls, doors, hardware, etc.
- Upgrade the insulation package to cut energy costs.
- Remove and replace all major electrical equipment.
- Install a complete HVAC system.
- Upgrade the entire plumbing system, including new fixtures.
- Incorporate a new heating system to integrate with the HVAC equipment.
- Install an integrated fire alarm system, possibly a sprinkler system, and fire separation walls as needed.
The estimated cost at a minimum would be in the $20,000,000.00 range. Again, this is all dependent on the final design use for the building.
It has been suggested to do the renovation/remodeling work in incremental stages as the need or funds become available. While appealing, this approach isn’t as flexible as you might think. It will increase the total cost of the renovations. We still have to know what we plan to have in the entire building. The HVAC, electrical, mechanical, and plumbing systems all have to be designed to serve the future needs of the entire building.
Even if our first renovation is the all-purpose room, you have to know what wires, pipes, ducting, etc. have to run through it to serve the future use of the old wing of the building. You don’t want to be tearing open walls you just built because you didn’t run all the required wires, etc. in them. You also lose economies of scale. We’ll pay more per window, for example, to buy the six windows needed for the area we’re renovating instead of all the windows we’d need for the entire building.
Finally, a piecemeal approach results in intermittent construction taking place in and around what is supposed to be the town’s public space for all the residents to use. This creates hazards and doesn’t lend itself to the downtown atmosphere in Higganum that residents have indicated they wanted. To achieve the best result that meets our requirements, the work should be completed at one time with as little cost as possible to you. Presently we have a plan to do that.
It is interesting to note the similarities in design and uses between what has been proposed on Facebook and the proposed public/private mixed-use plan (which includes senior housing) that has been developed by the town’s administration through surveys, a live charrette and numerous meetings and conversations that foster the recommendations of the townspeople’s concerns and wants. Except for, maybe, the final location of some of the exterior public amenities, the plans accomplish the same end.
While no plan is exactly what everyone wants, it is nevertheless a plan. The economics, the timing, the funding all come into play with the single idea of getting the best plan for the buck while creating a downtown center that creates a multigenerational atmosphere. Additionally, renovating a cherished building meets the multi-use requirements of our town and brings a needed vitality to our downtown center.
Presently we have a plan that, for all intents and purposes, meets all the requirements, state funding and a developer to do the work that meets all the topics discussed above. The plan adds to the continued development of our downtown environment.
