We will start our meeting at 7pm so as to have time for the EGCC update
We will hold our regular meeting to cover the Call Items at 8pm and we will vote to appoint a Secretary since Steve Meskers had to step down from that position.
EGCC
I spoke with Scott Johnson, Vice Chair of the EGCC Subcommittee who is planning on attending our March 7 meeting at 7pm. Scott believes that the Chair Gary Dell’Abate will also attend. I plan on inviting Joe Siciliano and a couple of BET members, Karen Fassuliotis and Mike Mason.
I will also let the Riverside Association and District 5 know about our meeting. Scott informed me that Meg Nolan (Old Greenwich representative) has resigned from the committee.
I learned a few things from Scott Johnson that are important for us to know prior to the meeting:
- There are no conclusions on the design at this point.
- A number of the committee members did not agree with the consultant executive summary but voted to accept the consultant report so as not to incur additional costs.
- Community involvement is critical now through the next 6-8 months so as to impact how the design will be configured
- Watchdog groups needed to monitor design phase
- Issues that need more clarification:
- Possibility of moderate bump-out of footprint
- Second Floor
- Wetlands & environmental questions
- Soil testing (According to Al Monelli soil has been tested around footprint)
- Cost of stormwater control
- Parking and how to phase parking according to events
- Data on current revenue
- Data on potential rental revenue (benchmarking)
- Design that meets criteria
- Modern
- Flexible
- Reflective of community needs (athletics, community fitness for different age groups, events, meetings)
- Balanced design for efficiencies, costs, revenue, usage
- Designed to be resilient to changing trends
- The adjacent field is not part of the this current project (This will take community involvement to change and may be where the public/private coordination is the most important.)
This is my summary. Please submit your questions so we can make the best use of the time on March 7th. It is important that the BET, and the Town especially DPW and Parks and Rec know how the community feels about this project.
The EGCC Subcommittee has a meeting scheduled next week on Tuesday, February 26 at 4:30pm in the Cone Room. I plan to attend and I sent another email on this that I received from Riverside Association.