A special committee of state lawmakers unanimously approved a detailed design for the Waterbury State Office Complex Thursday, concluding a eight-month process of vetting the project.
The approved design will accommodate a total of 974 Agency of Human Services employees, 192 more than the design’s previous iteration. It will also save two buildings for future use instead of demolishing them, at a cost of about $1 million over 30 years.
The total project cost is $124.66 million, down from a July 2012 estimate of $125.4 million.
Michael Clasen, deputy secretary of the administration, hailed the move as a helpful signal in the government’s attempts to secure substantial funding for the Waterbury repairs and rebuilding from FEMA.
“I think it helps us, in that just that it’s more definitive what our plans are, and that there’s legislative buy-in, in what we’re doing … I don’t know if it will result in any additional funding necessarily, but it just provides more clarity in the process,” said Clasen after the Statehouse meeting.
Clasen still didn’t know how much of the estimated $124.66 million cost would be reimbursed by FEMA, and he also declined to cite a possible range. He said there’d be more updates for lawmakers in January, but wouldn’t commit to saying that fresh news from FEMA in January would be definitive.
In other FEMA funding updates, recovery chief Sue Minter said that FEMA had projected $180 million in aid through its Public Assistance Program, and had obligated $130 million, for Irene-related recovery efforts. As of Oct. 30, the state has spent almost $86 million of FEMA money on Irene recovery work.
Clasen also said that last week FEMA determined that the state could receive extra funding for the Brooks and Annex buildings, which the state plans to demolish; it can use that funding on other projects, like renovating historic parts of the Waterbury complex.
The state also received another green light to go ahead with a mental health hospital in Berlin, after a positive environmental assessment from FEMA.
The special committee on the Waterbury Office Complex, which includes members of the Joint Fiscal Committee alongside the chairs of Senate and House institutions, approved the plan over the past objections of Rep. Cynthia Browning, D-Arlington. She argued in October that rebuilding large structures on a floodplain left the complex too susceptible to future flood damage.
