Government

‘The Responsibility I Take Most Seriously’: First Selectman Issues ‘Teen Center Timeline’

By |

The town received the Teen Center building on June 30. Prior to that date, I publicly called for an independent, professional engineering study of the building so that town leaders could understand what condition the building was in and what the costs may be to bring it up to code or to attract certain uses. That decision was met with full acceptance. On July 19, we received the engineer’s report, which documented major issues with the building and put the town on notice of its un-safe condition. As the highest elected official and chief executive of the town, I made a decision then and there to heed the recommendations of the engineering report, along with our building and fire officials, to make that building off limits.

News

Letter: ‘Shaken and Dismayed’ By Criticism of Outback Volunteers

By |

Dear Editor,

I get it! The powers that be do not want a teen center in New Canaan and the building is being torn down. What I don’t get is why some also need to tear down the people who created and nurtured the organization. As a 33-year citizen of New Canaan and a volunteer with several nonprofits, I really am shaken and dismayed that any elected official would choose to try openly in meetings and the press well-meaning volunteers for their efforts on behalf of children and their families. Why is it necessary to besmirch someone’s reputation because previous choices did not work and we face difficult decisions?

Government

Outback Board Unknowingly Alerted in 2007-08 To What Became ‘Potentially Disastrous’ Structural Danger at Teen Center

By |

A former board president of New Canaan’s defunct teen center said Tuesday morning that the organization’s directors had learned through a study conducted as early as 2007 of a “hinge effect” in the building’s second floor—a part of the Outback’s design and construction that professional engineers now describe as unsafe for the young people it had been built to serve. The danger developed over time as the flooring began to “crown,” and there’s no way the Outback’s board could have known the hazard it would create when the teen center opened in 2001, officials said during a regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen. Yet the first reaction from an engineer who entered the Outback building before it was closed to the public last week was, “ ‘You’ve got to close this building. No one should come in here,’ ” according to Bill Oestmann, buildings superintendent with the New Canaan Department of Public Works. “And when I told them what they were doing there, he explained that having a large dance up there, if you have 100 kids and people moving around, that whole weight load is bouncing going back and forth, and he just said that floor could drop down on one side because it’s just hinged up there,” Oestmann said at the meeting, held in Town Hall.

Government

Outback Construction Firm: ‘To the Best of Our Knowledge, the Building Was Built in Accordance to the Design Specifications’

By |

Officials from the Stamford-based company that served as builder on the New Canaan Outback Teen Center project in 2001 said they regretted to learn last week of the structural problems that prompted the closing of that facility to the public. Though the firm was “made aware of the situation late in the process,” A.P. Construction is “ready to work with the town officials and original design team on the project including the local structural engineer, design architect, and structural subcontractor to take a look at the center together and provide recommendations as required,” Kim DePra, vice president of marketing and communications, said in a statement on behalf of the company. “To the best of our knowledge the building was built in accordance to the design specifications and was inspected by the town and a certificate of occupancy was issued. We are looking for what information we have retained in our files on this project from almost 20 years ago that would help to clarify any construction questions.”

An engineering study of Outback commissioned by First Selectman Rob Mallozzi days after the town became owner of the building on July found that it was structurally unsound and unsafe. Since then, though New Canaan’s prior building official issued a Certificate of Occupancy in the summer of 2001—a new person has been in that position for several years—the town has been unable to locate an important document that follows comprehensive final inspections.

Government

Officials: Building Inspection Document Missing from Outback Teen Center Files

By |

Town officials said Friday that they’ve been unable to locate a document in the Outback Teen Center’s files that’s required by the Building Code as a final and comprehensive sign-off prior to the issuance of a Certificate of Occupancy. An important layer in checks-and-balances in the approval process for non-residential structures, the “Statement of Special Inspections” (see PDF embedded below to view the form) is a standardized and highly detailed document that encompasses structural and architectural disciplines, as well as mechanical, electrical and plumbing, officials said. New Canaan’s building official at the time—new and different people for years have occupied that and other pertinent roles at Town Hall—would have been responsible for ensuring that the Statement of Special Inspections was filled out and signed by all parties involved in the Outback project, officials said. To this point, it isn’t clear whether it ever was, according to Bill Oestmann, who “inherited” the structure behind Town Hall on July 1 as New Canaan’s superintendent of buildings. Asked about the Statement of Special Inspections for the Outback, Oestmann said: “I don’t know if they were ever done.”

“We will continue to find what we can find paperwork-wise,” Oestmann told NewCanaanite.com.