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Date: 7/19/2023
LUDLOW — The Board of Selectmen approved the use of $543,210 in American Rescue Plan Act funds to pay for the demolition of Veterans Park Elementary School at its June 11 meeting.
Selectman Manny Silva jokingly said, “I think since I have been on the board, I think this is the first project that has come before us, and we estimated a number and it’s come in less.”
Some of the Board of Selectmen members said they remembered hearing some quotes for demolition as high as $2 million.
Town Administrator Marc Strange added the town has a contract with J.R. Vinagro to complete the demolition.
Chapin Street and Veterans Park elementary schools were both in need of serious repairs and upgrades due to their age, so Harris Brook Elementary School was built for students in grades two through five and opened in 2021.
The demolition is scheduled to begin on July 17 with preliminary asbestos remediation prep work.
“For a couple weeks it will be preliminary asbestos remediation work and people will start to see the trucks come in and actually doing the demo work,” Strange added.
According to Strange, the demolition process will continue in August and should be completed by October 1.
The board then approved $61,500 in ARPA funds to pay for an owner’s project manager to oversee the demolition of Veterans Park School.
Strange explained, “While we have no reason to believe that Vinagro won’t do a great job, on spec, and on time, the town would be remiss if we didn’t hire our own third-party expert to be the town’s eyes and ears and review all of Vinagro’s work to hold them accountable for executing the work as described in our contract. That’s why we hired an OPM.”
The Board of Selectmen also approved $28,500 in 40R funds to pay for a consultant to expand the existing District Improvement Financing district and for Westmass Area Development Corporation to conduct the DIF consulting services.
Strange said, “There is a DIF district right now, but it only encompasses the Mills property. The thought is to expand the district, down State Street, up Stevens Street to East Street, over to Sewall to Center and all the way basically encompassing the whole downtown area because once this money comes in from Mill 8, Mill 11, whatever other developments come from Riverside drive, the town can use those funds to pay for bonding for infrastructure.”
Westmass Area Development Corporation is currently working on developing Mill 8 into a 55 and over apartment complex and has begun discussion on designing a plan for Mill 11.
He added, “By expanding the district we can look at the intersection coming over bridge where East Street and Center Street split. Whatever projects that get done with in that district we can use the DIF funds without having to tax the taxpayers.”
The consultant will oversee looking at very parcel in the district to establish a baseline value for each property and come up with an aggregate value and then whatever the difference is between the baseline valuation and DIF funds that can create funds for future projects.