By TERRENCE S. MCAULIFFE
The Middlebury Land Preservation and Open Space Acquisition Committee (LPOS) focused on upcoming Fenn Farm maintenance and repairs at its Nov. 5 meeting. It also set 2015 meeting dates and considered a date change for next year’s farm tour.
Member Ray Pietrorazio said the Saturday, Oct. 18, Fenn Farm tour, rescheduled from Saturday, Sept. 27, went rather well considering the unsettled weather that day. Chairman John Cookson agreed, mentioning competition from wine tours and fall foliage harvest festivals.
The tour ran from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and included complimentary hotdogs, donuts, apple cider and pumpkins for the kids. The cost of the event was shared with the Middlebury Land Trust, which provided the cider and donuts. Cookson said 95 hot dogs were consumed and joked he had eaten only one.
On the topic of asbestos removal from furnace pipes in the farm house basement, Cookson distributed a letter from Torrington Area Health District representative Gilbert Roberts recommending the asbestos be removed as soon as the town budget allows. The letter, written to Public Works Director Dan Norton, said occupant Robin Fenn should limit his access to the basement as much as possible and avoid storing things there. Although no asbestos was found on the floor during the inspection, the town was advised to inspect it periodically and remove any fallen asbestos with a HEPA vacuum.
Members Ray Pietrorazio and James Crocicchia discussed the urgency of the removal with Pietrorazio saying it didn’t need to be done so long as Fenn wasn’t using the basement and Crocicchia worrying about the town’s liability if Fenn developed respiratory ailments. Cookson said he thought Norton would want to remove it promptly but did not bring that recommendation to a vote.
Cookson said four letters were sent to local contractors soliciting quotes for replacement and upgrade of old and brittle wiring from the CL&P weather head point into the farmhouse. The wiring was noted at the Oct. 1 meeting by Pietrorazio, who said it was a safety issue. Cookson said two contractors came out and agreed to submit quotes for new 200-amp service and a change in routing of the wiring from the road. He said the work would probably cost less than $5,000 and not require formal bids, but Pietrorazio said a changeover switch for the generator was expensive and likely to bring the cost above that figure.
In other pending maintenance, Pietrorazio said he had put aside farm house painting and focused on more urgent repairs to the cow barn roof and the horse barn foundation. He said four roofing firms had visited the site and all had agreed two layers of existing roof shingles must be removed before a new roof is installed. Two of the roofers said the roof wouldn’t make it through the winter while one said the roof had worked well for years and might leak here and there but not collapse. Pietrorazio said all agreed the lap boards supporting the roof were in good shape and should be used to support a layer of plywood under new shingles. After discussion among members, it was agreed the roof repair was not urgent enough to bypass the town’s bid process and they moved that work into spring 2015. Cookson instructed Pietrorazio to send the four roofing bids to Norton.
Masonry repairs on deteriorating horse barn walls were deemed the most pressing issue by Pietrorazio who said one quote had come in from a local mason and two more were on their way. He said an area on the west wall needed to be supported by jacks so loose stones and dirt could be removed and the stones cemented back in place. The work would not be expensive, according to Pietrorazio, but Cookson instructed him to get the other two quotes so a special meeting could be called to evaluate them.
Discussing trench maintenance, a matter left open from Oct. 1, Cookson said Pietrorazio authorized Fenn to contract the $500 job from Esposito landscaping without a purchase order being approved. Pietrorazio said Larry Hutvagner, the town’s chief financial officer, told him there was an open purchase order and Norton told him a required wetlands permit had not expired. Cookson said Pietrorazio had mistaken a different purchase order authorized for haying and should have waited for members to confer with town engineer John Calabrese on the need for the trench maintenance as agreed Oct. 1.
In procedural matters, members voted to keep the regular meeting date the first Wednesday of each month at 6 p.m. Pietrorazio noted LPOS bylaws called for an election of officers, including chairman and secretary, every January although it wasn’t done in the last few years. Cookson agreed to put it on the December agenda.
The next regular LPOS meeting will be Wednesday, Dec. 3, at 6 p.m. at Shepardson Community Center.
