Making changes with a Fort Worth roofing repair
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“Council ‘disappointed’ by roof replacement cost
By Ian Holliday, Press Write
GROTON – When the new roof over the gymnasium at Fitch High School is installed, it will be a quarter-inch steeper and roughly $200,000 more expensive than originally planned. What bothers Town Councilor Harry Watson is that, in his opinion, it doesn’t have to be.
“It’s a frustrating thing to vote for,” Watson said of the resolution the council approved at its meeting Tuesday night, which would transfer the balances of two projects that were completed under budget to cover the added cost of the roof replacement project.
The roof replacement was originally approved for $625,000 as part of the capital improvement plan for the 2012-13 fiscal year, which ends June 30. Plans called for the 28,000-square-foot section of the school’s roof to be replaced with a more-or-less identical new one, but a state statute aimed at preventing snow from piling up on the roofs of public buildings forced the town to either change its plans or seek a waiver.
At issue is the question of whether the new roof should be built with a pitch of one quarter-inch per foot, as the existing roof is built, or with a pitch of one half-inch per foot, as the law requires. At the council’s Committee of the Whole meeting last week, Groton Public Schools Director of Buildings and Grounds William Robarge said the town had hoped its quarter-inch pitch would be “grandfathered in.”
Since the project had already been designed, the town asked the state Bureau of School Facilities’ architectural design reviewer for a waiver to the half-inch pitch requirement. Robarge said the request was made twice, and was denied both times.
“They mentioned, ‘We need more justification other than just the additional cost,'” Robarge said of the state.
The extra $200,000 in cost comes from the additional drainage and ventilation that will be needed underneath the new roof, Robarge said.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Watson reminded the council that the building is not in violation of the federal standard for such construction, just the one imposed by the state.
“There’s no reason why we couldn’t abide by the federal standard, which is a quarter-inch-per-foot pitch, as opposed to what the state’s making us do,” Watson said. “It’s costing a couple hundred thousand dollars. I’m going to vote for it because the roof needs to get fixed, but I’m not happy about it.”
Other councilors had shared similar concerns to Watson’s at the Committee of the Whole meeting, but they were clearly not enough to overcome the desire to see the project move forward, as the resolution passed unanimously both last week and Tuesday night.
The resolution would transfer a total of $235,000 to the roof replacement project, enough to cover the $800,000 estimated total cost and allow for some contingency, Robarge said.
Roughly $200,000 of that money would come from surplus funds from the nearly $1.4 million approved by the council and the Representative Town Meeting in March for modifications to Cutler and West Side middle schools and the purchase of portable classrooms. The remaining $35,000 would come from surplus funds from the $270,000 appropriated for the replacement of boilers at S.B. Butler Elementary School.
Now that the council has approved these transfers, they will be referred to the RTM for consideration and approval.
Before Tuesday’s vote, Mayor Heather S. Bond Somers noted that the council had brought up the roof pitch issue at its meeting with the three state legislators that represent the town earlier this month.
“They are very well aware of our disappointment, but it doesn’t seem like they can really do anything for us to help mitigate the cost,” Somers said.”
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