Schools

Herbst Should Stop Delaying the Magnet School Project

By the Trumbull Democratic Town Committee

DiNardo and Thornton: Focus instead on mitigating effects of construction.

 Apparently, someone forgot to tell First Selectman Tim Herbst that the border shift that he negotiated near Old Town Road was approved, the decision is final and the magnet high school will be built in what is now Bridgeport.

After Herbst’s poor decisions cost the town millions in payments and in-kind services from Bridgeport, and cost Trumbull its ability to control aspects of construction, and caused Trumbull’s border to be shifted with no commensurate action from Bridgeport, Herbst’s town attorney, Edward Walsh, gave notice to the Bridgeport Planning and Zoning Commission this week that Trumbull will appeal the approval of the project by the Bridgeport Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Commission.

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It’s unclear what Herbst is doing, but the effect is to impede the start of the project and the perception is that the Trumbull first selectman just wants to get back at Bridgeport.

“If the first selectman has a legitimate concern about the Bridgeport wetlands approval, he should spell it out, and try to work it out,” said Town Chairwoman Nancy DiNardo. “But the truth is that the Trumbull Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Commission has long since approved the project, and the Bridgeport approval was even more stringent than Trumbull’s. It looks like Tim is just interested in delaying this project because of his failed attempt at high-stakes gamesmanship.”

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Town Council Minority Leader Mary Beth Thornton said that Herbst gave up control of the project when he made the land swap. He should instead work to ensure that the surrounding streets are insulated from the impact of the construction for the next two years.

“If First Selectman Herbst’s regrettable negotiations hadn’t taken control out of Trumbull’s hands, the Trumbull Planning and Zoning Commission was prepared to impose strict limitations on the blasting, grinding and rock removal from the site,” Thornton said. “Mr. Herbst should be focused on protecting the quality of life of our residents who live adjacent to the project for the next 24 months, not on refighting a battle he already lost.”

What’s more, Thornton noted, Herbst’s actions are keeping construction contractors throughout the region and in Trumbull from bidding on what will be the largest project in the area in years. At a time when construction-industry workers need work, the first selectman’s apparent decision to appeal the project means is negatively impacting those workers.

The magnet-school project blew up in Herbst’s face and the faces of all residents of Trumbull residents with the passage in April of a permanent and irrevocable shift in the town’s border by the State Legislature. The shift essentially placed Fairchild Memorial Park, near Old Town Road on the Trumbull-Bridgeport town line, within the borders of Bridgeport.

The massive school project, expected to accommodate 1,500 students from around the region, had been under consideration by the Planning and Zoning Commission. At the time, Trumbull and Bridgeport had worked out an inter-municipal agreement that was very favorable to Trumbull. Under the terms of the agreement, Bridgeport would:

  • Pay $1 million over 10 years to Trumbull.
  • Pay several hundred thousand dollars to the Trumbull Center Fire District.
  • Pay for road repairs on Quarry Road and Old Town Road.
  • Cover all first-responder emergency services associated with the school.
  • Provide the town of Trumbull 150 student slots in the school, thus saving millions in local education costs over the life of the agreement.

Beyond that, Bridgeport was going to have to comply with the stringent oversight of the Trumbull Planning and Zoning Commission, and it would have had to pay the town of Trumbull about $750,000 for a building permit.

But at the last minute, Herbst upped the ante, asking the state government for $5.2 million for communications equipment and for additional road improvements. At that point, the deal collapsed and a new arrangement emerged that led to the Legislature’s action, and all of the elements of the inter-municipal deal were lost. Trumbull, having had a pristine parcel of parkland sliced from its borders, got nothing more than the right to negotiate to own a much smaller piece of land on Quarry Road. Deed restrictions severely restrict potential uses of the parcel.


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