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Litchfield School Board approves LMS parking-lot repair, seeks $100,000 from impact-fee reserve
Summary
The Litchfield School Board voted to proceed with a $455,137 repair and repaving of the LMS parking lot after a collapsed subsurface pipe caused sinkholes; the board also voted to request a $100,000 withdrawal from an LMS-specific impact-fee fund to offset the cost.
The Litchfield School Board on June 30 approved funding to repair and repave the Litchfield Middle School parking lot after a subsurface pipe collapse created sinkholes and an immediate safety risk.
The superintendent told the board the district’s best estimate as of the office close on June 30 was about $1.3 million remaining in FY26 and described the parking-lot problem as a “catastrophic failure,” saying a pipe roughly 20 feet below the surface has rotted through. He told members the district has a firm contractor quote of about $455,137 to replace the pipe, fix drainage, repave the loop and make the lot ADA-compliant, and that the work is being coordinated with the town’s road and sidewalk work.
Board members debated funding sources. The administration said an LMS-specific impact-fee account currently holds about $255,000 and that both district and town legal counsel agreed impact fees may be used for the project. After discussion about preserving some impact fees for future projects (for example an egress road or potential solar-related costs), the board voted to ask the Board of Selectmen to withdraw $100,000 from the LMS impact-fee fund to reimburse part of the parking-lot expense. A motion to proceed with the repair and repave carried in a roll-call vote that was recorded as unanimous after remote participation issues were resolved.
The board and administration said the repair is a safety priority: the temporary gravel fill prevents immediate hazards, but a permanent repair is necessary to avoid liability if a vehicle or bus falls into an unrepaired sinkhole. The district plans to fund the work initially from underspent operating funds and to seek the approved portion of impact fees as a reimbursement mechanism once the Selectmen act.
Next steps: the administration will finalize logistics with the paving contractor and the town and pursue the Selectmen’s approval for the $100,000 impact-fee withdrawal. The board indicated it will continue to track actual costs and return-to-taxpayer projections as invoices arrive.
