Eastport South Manor green energy project could see early state approval

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A $13 million project to help the Eastport South Manor School District become more energy efficient is moving forward at a much quicker pace than expected.

District officials said last week that the project might receive approval from the State Education Department as early as January. They also noted that the district may qualify for about $1 million in federal stimulus money to help pay for the project.

Ahmed Hassan, an energy account executive with Atlantic Energy Solutions, the Saratoga Springs company that is managing the project, told Board of Education members at a board meeting on Wednesday, November 18, that the review process in Albany should move quickly because there is a short waiting list of building projects seeking approval.

The project calls for a host of “green” measures to be implemented in the district. A cogeneration plant, which produces both heat and electricity, will be built at the junior-senior high school. Also, heating, ventilation and air conditioning modifications will be made at all four district schools, and a lighting retrofit will replace old fixtures. The school buildings will be weatherized in order to prevent heat loss through windows, walls and ceilings, and more energy-efficient windows will be installed. Electricity generating solar panels will be installed on school roofs, and new boilers will be installed in the schools.

Some of the schools have boilers that are 20 years old, Mr. Snyder noted. “We have very old boilers at Eastport, South Street and Dayton,” he said. “And the heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems and windows are completely outdated.”

Mr. Hassan said on average, school districts typically wait 12 to 14 weeks for approval of capital projects. But the proposal, which was submitted to state officials on October 26, just days after board members approved a contract with the energy firm at an October 21 meeting, is expected to be approved in early January. That means construction can begin as early as February, and may be completed by the start of the new school year in September, Mr. Hassan said.

At the same time, the district has the potential to receive up to $1 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, also known as the economic stimulus package, to help fund the project. Mr. Hassan said an application for the grant has been submitted, and the district should know by February whether it is approved. “We’re hoping to get the million,” Mr. Hassan said to the board.

State building aid is expected to cover 90 percent of the cost of the project, according to Richard Snyder, the district’s assistant superintendent of business. The district qualifies for increased state aid under the terms of the merger of Eastport and South Manor school districts in 2003.

The district’s share of the cost of the project, about $1.3 million, is expected to be offset by an estimated savings in energy costs of about $737,000 per year, Mr. Snyder said. That savings will also help to offset the cost of a larger $61 million construction project at the district’s three elementary schools, which will create additional classrooms, storage space, and a new kindergarten through second grade school building at Eastport Elementary School.

Most of the cost of that project will also be covered by state aid, officials said. Under the terms of the merger deal, the state is expected to fund 90 percent of the project, leaving the district to pay about $6 million over the course of 18 years.

No hearing or bond vote is necessary for the energy upgrades, Mr. Snyder said, because the project will be paid for under the terms of the multi-year contract with Atlantic Energy Solutions and no funds will be borrowed.

A public hearing on the $61 million project is scheduled for next Wednesday night, December 2, at 7 p.m. at the Eastport South Manor High School on Moriches-Middle Island Road. The public will vote on the funding for the project on Tuesday, December 8, from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the high school.

It would be up to the School Board to determine how best to apply the federal stimulus grant, Mr. Snyder said.

“It would just go to the general fund reserve and be used to reduce taxes, support additional programs—whatever the board so chooses.”

The district, which comprises nearly 4,000 students and about 600 faculty and staff members in its four schools, eats up about $1.9 million per year in utility costs with the old systems in place, Mr. Snyder said. Board members began talks about an energy performance upgrade last winter. Mr. Snyder said the board was inspired after taking a look at energy upgrades in the Lakeland School District in Westchester County completed by the same firm that will do the work in Eastport South Manor.