Greenwich Selectmen to Review New School Building Plan

GREENWICH, CT - The Greenwich Board of Selectmen will hold a special meeting Tuesday afternoon to hear a presentation from the Board of Education that has voted to recommend a New Lebanon School building plan that doesn’t conform with what the selectmen previously approved.

On Dec. 3, the school board voted 7-1 to recommend that Option 1 for building a new school on the existing Mead Avenue campus in Byram. The option includes building the school to the rear of the existing building, using more of the ravine and cutting some of the woods on the property. The approximately $32 million project also would keep New Lebanon students in the current building during the two-year construction period.

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Back in June, the Selectmen granted municipal improvement status for what was called Option D which would place the school closer to the existing building footprint and not use as much of the ravine because of its proximity to I-95. That plan also called for the relocation of students to other schools in the district or to portable classrooms during the construction phase.

The granting of municipal improvement status moves the project to the Planning and Zoning Commission for initial review.

Because of the differences in the plan now being recommended by the school board, the board must now withdraw the previously approved plan and present the new plan to the Selectmen for approval.

In a letter to school board Chair Laura Erickson, First Selectman Peter Tesei requested presentation of the new plan by the New Lebanon School Building Committee architects Tai Soo Kim at 3:15 p.m. Tuesday at Greenwich Town Hall.

The Selectmen would then vote on the proposal at its regularly scheduled meeting at 10 a.m. Dec. 18, according to Tesei.

“As I stated in my prior letter to you the BOS (Board of Selectmen) remains committed to working together to move this important project forward,” Tesei said in his letter.