The "What": This Week in Southwest Connecticut

Kelly Prinz -

February 22

Happy Tuesday! Hope you all had a restful weekend.

What's happening around Coastal Connecticut:

  • After an outdoor patio collapsed at the Allure apartment building in the Harbor Point section of Stamford, the Public Safety and Health Committee of the Board of Reps will be reviewing that situation, as well as the city’s procedures for conducting inspections of new buildings.
  • The Stamford Board of Education will review a $307 million budget on Wednesday, after the board’s finance committee approved adding facilities staff, communications funding, increased health care costs, and funding for caps, gowns, and yearbooks for graduating seniors this past week.
  • The Finance and Claims Committee of Norwalk’s Common Council recommended increasing the city’s budget cap slightly to give more funding to the school district, upping its proposed increase from 3.75% to 4.5%, or about $9.4 million. The increase comes after a joint meeting of the council and Board of Education to discuss funding, and after the council heard from dozens of parents who asked the council to provide additional funding to the schools.
  • Norwalk’s Ordinance Committee advanced plans to institute a moratorium on cannabis sales in the city to allow for further studies on locations, traffic, health concerns, and more. If approved by the full Common Council, the city would join neighboring towns, such as Westport, who have already established moratoriums.

Let’s take a look at what’s coming up in the week ahead.

Stamford

On Tuesday, Feb. 22 at 6:30 p.m., the Public Safety and Health Committee of the Board of Reps (as mentioned above) will be reviewing the collapse of an outdoor patio at the Allure apartment building in Harbor Point. The committee will also be examining the building inspection reports for Allure, and the nearby Yale and Towne Lofts buildings. Residents of the Yale and Towne Lofts buildings had been asked to asked to move out, according to a report by CT Examiner, by this spring due to structural and maintenance needs. The committee also wants to review the city’s procedures for how it conducts the inspections of new construction projects.

The Board of Education will be reviewing and recommending the proposed $307 million for 2022-2023 on Wednesday, Feb. 23 at 7 p.m. The school board’s finance committee voted to add about $1.1 million to it last week. The additions include:

  • A new architect and project manager to work on the district’s upcoming construction projects
  • Additional funding for communications efforts
  • Funding for caps, gowns, and yearbooks for graduating seniors
  • Additional projected health care costs.

Other meetings include:

Norwalk

The full Common Council will vote on the budget cap for the upcoming 2022-23 budget on Tuesday, Feb. 22 at 7:30 p.m. The proposed budget would now be capped at $414 million, of which about $367 million is funded by local tax revenues and about $47 million from outside grants and revenues. This proposed update to the budget adds additional funding for the school district and allows for the hiring of one more parks department employee.

Other meetings this week include:

Fairfield

The First Selectwoman will present her proposed budget for the 2022-23 year to the Board of Selectmen on Wednesday, Feb. 23 at 10 a.m. This presentation kicks off the town’s budget process and provides the public their first look at the proposal. The budget process begins with the Board of Selectmen who have the ability to make changes before sending it to the Board of Finance and then the Representative Town Meeting for final approval and adoption.

Other meetings this week include:

Greenwich

The Board of Education will be discussing the construction work that needs to be done at Central Middle School on Thursday, Feb. 24 at 7 p.m. On Jan. 28, the district’s engineering consultant, Diversified Technology Consultants, issued a report on the status of the building, noting “significant structural concerns.” After town inspectors and school officials toured the site with the consultants in early February, the building was closed and students were temporarily relocated for the week of Feb. 7, ahead of the district’s winter break. Officials say that temporary measures are now in place to secure the building and keep it structurally sound—and it has been cleared for reopening. The board plans to discuss the school’s repair needs and potential ways to fund them on Thursday.

Other meetings this week include:

Darien

Two committees of the Representative Town Meeting—Finance & Budget and Public Health and Safety—will meet on Tuesday, Feb. 22 at 7:30 p.m. The committees will host a preliminary discussion on potential projects to be funded through the town’s $6.4 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds and look at the approval process to get these projects moving forward.

Other meetings this week include:

Westport

Four committees of the Representative Town Meeting—Finance, Health & Human Services, Long Range Planning, and Planning & Zoning—will meet on Thursday, Feb. 24 to review a plan to use $150,000 of American Rescue Plan Act funds for pre-design work on an affordable housing project. The proposal was approved unanimously by the town’s Board of Finance. If the committees also approve this plan, it will be forwarded to the full RTM for final approval.

Other meetings this week include:

Thank you for reading! Keep an eye out for next week’s newsletter, which will include the special release of a project we’ve been working on for the past few weeks that aims to help residents understand their cities and towns a bit better.

Have a great week,

Kelly Prinz

Founder, Reporter at Coastal Connecticut Times