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02/03/2017 08:56 AMGround won't be broken this summer on the Walsh Intermediate School (WIS) expansion project, and new construction now looks to be headed off until at least the summer of 2018. Otherwise, plans are well underway, with all time lines being met, said Superintendent of Schools Hamlet Hernandez.
The construction plans and updates on the project, which under the purview of a special committee of the Public Building Commission, will be discussed at a Board of Education public information session which will share the project's latest news on Monday, Feb. 6, 7 p.m. at WIS in the commons. The school is located at 185 Damascus Road.
"This will be a high-level presentation that incorporates the time line and will most likely talk about why the decision was made not to do anything this coming summer, but really to wait for the following summer," Hernandez told Zip06/The Sound. "I think it makes more sense not to start in a stop-and-go fashion; as opposed to no interruption – let's have that academic year."
The $88.2 million next-generation school building project was approved for bonding by the RTM in 2016 with 2019-20 completion deadline.
On June 30, 2016, the town hit the state reimbursement deadline in order to request about $22 million in state aid toward the cost, bringing the final project cost to Branford tax payers down to approximately $60 million.
Although the application is in, the State Bonding Commission still needs to meet to finalize approval. The commission convenes to review bonding applications in April.