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"It's over," Shanahan said in his office Wednesday, adding that Choate will now focus its efforts on building the center in a way that doesn't require the closing of Old Durham Road between Christian and East Main streets. "And from my point of view that's good news for the school because it gives the school enormous flexibility for what it might want to do 20, 30 years down the line."
Shanahan said that when he began relaying the requests of individual councilors - which were gathered after school officials and councilors held a series of meetings in late September -the school's board of trustees advised him to find another way to build the center.
Shanahan said some of the councilors' requests totaled more than $1 million, without taking into account the value of the 128 acres of land east of East Main Street that the school offered to preserve in perpetuity as open space, and an additional $250,000 the school would pay to create a cul-de-sac at the Christian Street end to serve private residences.
Shanahan had approached the council in late June with the initial request and a proposal detailing the center, and the proposal had a number of twists and turns throughout the summer. Some of the most interesting turns came Tuesday when, after a long debate and a great deal of public comment for and against the proposal, the council voted 5-3 to approve the concept of making a counteroffer to the school. Then the council voted down each counteroffer that was proposed because a majority of the councilors couldn't agree on what they wanted from the school in exchange for the road.
Brodinsky said Wednesday that he believes the council reached an end point on the issue Tuesday night, after failing to reach a consensus on a counteroffer.
"I think it's over. I think it's come to a conclusion at this point," said Brodinsky, who is not seeking re-election next month. "There were varying motions made for a counteroffer, but none of them were successful."
When he was told of Shanahan's statement about Choate's intention to abandon its request, Brodinsky said that it was "probably good for everybody."
"Choate's going to go ahead and build this facility, and I'm glad they are," he said. "I think it will be great for Choate. Whatever develops" to allow public school students to access the center "is going to develop regardless of whether the road is open or closed. I don't think this is a bad ending at all."
Shanahan said the school expects to commission an architect for the project in the next two weeks and break ground on the site in January or February - weather and approval by the necessary town departments permitting. The center would likely be completed by May or June 2011.
The chairman of Choate's board of trustees, Herbert V. Kohler Jr., who is president and chairman of Wisconsin-based Kohler Co., a supplier of bathroom fixtures, will be the sole donor for the construction of the center, which is estimated to cost between $10 million and $15 million.
Shanahan said use of the land by Wallingford public school students still remains on the table, but it was too early to talk specifics.
"All of my Town Council stuff is now in a cardboard box in storage, and I'm focusing on this," Shanahan said Wednesday, gesturing to a scale model of the future center on a coffee table in his office. "We're going to build this magnificent center, and I've talked to (School Superintendent) Sal Menzo and, sometime this fall, we'll begin to sit down and see if there are things we can do together."
dmoran@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2224
