East Hampton School Board Looks at Potential Building Projects

Major construction projects could be on the horizon in East Hampton.

At a Board of Education meeting, on Tuesday, December 5, Superintendent of Schools Adam Fine laid out some potential plans the district is aiming to get on the ballot for voter approval in May 2025.

It is very early in the development stages for these ideas, he said, but added the time is needed to not only figure out what proposals the board would like to tackle but also to gather community input. The time is now because district debt is expiring in five years, and it is cost-effective and easier on the budget to replace old debt with new. If the district were to wait and vote on a bond five years after, for example, taxes would increase to cover the costs.

“There are some things we have to do and will do,” Fine said about the projects, which were discussed during facilities committee meetings and among board members prior to Tuesday’s meeting. “These are big-ticket items, but they’re also opportunities for children. These are options for the community. And this list is by no means exhaustive, and is subject to change. None of this is set in stone. This is all part of discussions we’ve had, and the items are a starting point for community conversation.”

The first items up for consideration are roof replacements over the high school gymnasium and middle school auditorium. The sections are the oldest parts of the roofs at the respective buildings and are most likely to fail in the next 10 years, the superintendent said. Estimated costs today, which could rise in the future as the projects are being discussed years in advance, would be $2,037,600 and $468,000, respectively.

Next is the replacement of a boiler at John M. Marshall Elementary School that is beyond repair.

“This would be a lot to pull out of the repair reserve fund,” Fine said of the purchase currently projected to cost $1,176,000. “Technological advances make it more practical to replace the system.”

“It’s been on its last leg for years,” board Vice President Christina DeSanti added.

Another task that has been on the district’s to-do list for some time is refurbishment and replacement of middle school windows, but Fine said the anticipated cost of $2,142,000 could be covered through the use of an energy performance contract. The district will be revisiting this idea in January.

One of the priciest projects up for discussion is a complete revamp of the high school auditorium. Fine called the refurbishment plans a “no-brainer,” saying the current auditorium was built in 1970, the same year the electrical system was installed.

“The lights don’t work right. The sound doesn’t work right. There’s asbestos that needs to be abated,” Fine said. “The big piece of this, I want to stress, is this is a room the community uses all the time. Our performing arts and our fine arts our big. It’s used for everything. It needs to be redone.”

And again, he believes now is the time. The superintendent said when renovation discussions first began prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, estimates were around $3 million to $4 million, and the project is now estimated to cost more than $10 million.

“If there’s one thing that has to be done, I’d say this is at the top of the list,” DeSanti said. “It absolutely has to be done.”

The middle school auditorium also needs ceiling repairs and new lighting, which is expected to cost around $4,537,200.

“These have to happen,” Fine said. “You have to do these now, because you’re not going to be able to afford to go out in another 20 to 30 years to get these done.”

The priciest item on the introductory list is the construction of an indoor field house with a turf field, to potentially be built on the property behind the high school.

“For years, I’ve talked about opportunities for kids and for our community, and this would be the start of that,” Fine said.

It would model university-level structures that use steel framing with PVC roofing to control construction costs, and would address the ever-growing need for indoor practice space. It is projected to cost $36 million.

“We estimated high for this right now,” the superintendent said, adding that district administrators are touring a Stony Brook facility next week. “It’s a wonderful opportunity.”

He added different schools throughout the country have ways to rent them out. Policy around this would be discussed and developed. The field house could also have a pool, which is another wish-list item, but that could cost another $30 million to $40 million, and is estimated to cost an additional $2.5 million per year to run, maintain and monitor.

“The life expectancy of the YMCA pool is dwindling by the day, though,” Trustee Sarah Minardi commented.

Another option is adding an additional outdoor turf field with lights, expected to cost $2,112,000.

“There’s not going to be any more field space in the town or village, so we need to be able to utilize our campuses 100 percent,” DeSanti said. “Every inch is important.”

The building of the transportation center was the district’s last big project.

“We were very thankful that the community supported it,” Fine said. “Thank God we did it because of the pandemic and its impact on transportation.”

Superintendent for Business Sam Schneider said the planning stage is imperative. If voters approve a bond, the designs would need to be finalized, then estimated, and the district would have to get approval from the State Education Department, which can take 20 to 56 weeks. From there, plans would need to be put out to bid, contractors would be vetted and work scheduled around company and district availability. Schneider said in general, it can take as much as two or three years for a capital project to be shovel-ready.

“There will be a lag between presenting to voters and seeing projects rise from the ground,” he said. “We want to make the debt service as smooth as possible. Timing is important.”

Board member Sandra Vorpahl said she’d like input on what community members think should be included in a potential bond.

Feedback can be submitted to the Board of Education through June by emailing boe@ehschools.org.