Selectmen hear multi-project capital update; pickleball, bridges, and Eno Hall on timelines

Simsbury town staff gave the Board of Selectmen an update April 21 on a slate of capital projects ranging from new pickleball courts to long-term bridge and building work.

Tom Roy, the town staff member leading the presentation, told the board construction at the new pickleball courts has begun and the town is targeting a July 1 opening for the courts’ use, provided wet weather does not delay asphalt curing and paint application. Roy said the courts will be asphalt (the same base used for traditional tennis courts) rather than newer surface systems; the choice reflects cost and the expectation of a durable surface.

The Firetown Road sidewalk project requires six permanent easements and eight temporary construction agreements. Roy said staff is awaiting final executions from three property owners and that the town hopes either late fall this year or spring next year is possible for construction, depending on how quickly those property issues are resolved and on contractor availability.

The Flower Bridge project is finished; Roy said ribbon-cutting is scheduled for June 18 and the town plans to submit the work for state and national engineering awards. The Curtis Park to Route 10 bike trail is proceeding through federal-level permitting tied to the Farmington River’s wild-and-scenic designation, a process Roy described as “tedious and slow” and the likely reason for delay to late-season construction if reviews proceed without substantial comments.

On Climax Road, the town holds grant funding but Connecticut Department of Transportation reviewers recommended the town study a rehabilitation rather than full replacement. Roy said town staff expects design work will show the abutments cannot support a wider deck and that a full replacement remains the likely outcome; the town is preparing to interview consultant engineers to start design work.

Stoddard dam removal remains in design: sampling and testing of silt material are under way to determine contaminant levels and appropriate handling. Construction was described as a longer-term effort, with a likely 2027–2028 timeline if design and testing progress as expected.

The Simsbury Performing Arts Center second-act addition is in the grant-review and bidding-preparation phase. Roy said civil-site drawing updates requested by the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) delayed the bid release by a few weeks but that the town expects to advertise soon; budget constraints make the town watchful for high bid results and ready to pursue value engineering.

Meadowood tobacco-barn restoration came back to staff with bids higher than available funding. The town plans to revise the scope so the barns will remain visible from the exterior but not designed for interior occupancy, reducing structural loading requirements and cost.

Eno Memorial Hall HVAC modernization remains on the town’s radar as a costly project. Roy said full modernization would be “just north of $4,000,000” under the assumption the building could be vacated for an eight-month construction period; completing the work while the building remains occupied could add roughly $1,000,000 to the price. He also reported that the town’s rooftop HVAC units at Town Hall (installed 2004) are affected by recent refrigerant changes that increased cost and introduced line-set protection requirements; the town plans to replace two units and perform major rehabs on four others to delay a larger replacement strategy.

Other updates included: Station Street conversion from one-way to two-way (target late summer), town-hall parking and landscaping work (plants and new elements expected within 4–6 weeks), Town Forest Park pond dredge planning (looking for material-disposal sites), and Pine Hill sanitary sewer replacement (paving expected within two to three weeks; financing terms extended to 15 years). Roy said the Pine Hill project is roughly $12,000 below the original estimate after extras and community coordination.

The presentation included multiple staff leads (engineering, facilities, and project managers) and closed with an acknowledgment that many projects are being advanced while the town continues to watch construction-market conditions and grant and permitting constraints.

Ending: Town staff said they will return with more detailed cost and schedule updates as design work and permitting evolve; the board did not take policy action during the update.