The town will hold a referendum on Tuesday to decide whether to add $8.1 million to the budget to transform the former Academy School building into a community center. That’s 50% more than the cost of the project approved in 2022, and some critics say they expect the final cost will be even higher. Arcari argued that he had followed the current International Building Code standards, on which the Connecticut state building code is based. According to Arcari’s criteria, the project was a “level 2 alteration,” meaning it did not involve a change of more than 50% of the original building’s footprint and therefore did not require upgrading the entire building to comply with energy efficiency regulations for new construction. “There’s been a little bit of a disagreement between the building official and the architect about what part of the code applies to what part of the renovation,” Lyons said. “We’ll go to the state to appeal to waive certain things.” Lyons clarified that the project had a contingency fund of 8% of the project cost, slightly more than $1.5 million.
https://ctexaminer.com/2025/05/04/madison-votes-on-adding-50-to-community-center-budget-critics-say-cost-will-be-higher/