Darien's capital projects await BOS vote

After a great deal of deliberation the capital projects are awaiting a vote from the Board of Selectmen before they proceed.

The Board has discussed staggering the projects, which include renovations at Weed Beach, moving the senior center to the Town Hall, moving the Board of Education office to the former library site at 35 Leroy Ave., and updating the police station, in order to help relieve the burden to tax payers.

The projects would begin in the following order: moving the senior center to Town Hall in January 2011; moving the Board of Education's central office to 35 Leroy Ave. in September 2011; renovating Weed Beach facilities in September 2011; and updating the police station in March 2012.

The estimated cost is $2 million for Weed Beach, $14.7 million for the police station and $3.4 million for the senior center.

Weed Beach was originally going to receive $3.6 million, which would require a dip into the general fund, but First Selectman David Campbell decided against it. With the $2 million, Weed Beach would be able to build a new bathhouse, Campbell said.

Campbell wrote in an e-mail that the Park and Recreation Commission could request additional bonding from the RTM.

If all the projects were started at once, the town would have to bond about $97 million, Campbell said. However, if the projects are staggered then the total amount of bonding would be $83 million.

Campbell said during the July meeting that he wanted to stagger the projects because he believes it would result in less of an impact on the taxpayers. He did not feel that any one project was necessarily more important than another, but that the biggest concern was to not stress taxpayers unnecessarily.

However, there were concerns that staggering the projects over a period of time could result in the projects costing more money in the long run. Democratic Selectman David Bayne argued that starting the projects earlier would keep the total cost down, resulting in less of an impact on the taxpayers.

During its August meeting, Republican Selectman Jayme Stevenson noted that the largest hit to taxpayers would be $200 million between 2012-2015. Bayne requested that the board receive all the information available about the projects before the vote takes place.

The Board of Selectmen is expected to vote on the projects at its Sept. 7 meeting.