Mt. Pleasant School Trustees Open Review for Fields Upgrade Bond
By Ed Perratore
Mount Pleasant school officials took the first step toward the much-needed renovation of athletic facilities at Westlake high and middle schools last week by voting to studying the ambitious plan’s potential environmental impact.
The Board of Education approved resolutions at its Dec. 4 work session to initiate the review that is required under the state Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) and to declare itself lead agency for the process. District officials are looking to place a referendum on the ballot in the spring.
The board’s wish list is something residents have long demanded, judging from the intense responses at a public forum the board hosted last January.
Should voters eventually approve the referendum, the district hopes to install two new multi-use artificial turf fields; expand and resurface the existing track; put in a sand slit drainage system for the existing softball, baseball and soccer fields; and install field lights, two scoreboards, paved walkways, four dugouts, three bullpens, bleachers, fencing, building lighting and public-address speakers. There would also be a storm-water pre-treatment system for the campus.
However, the board has much work to do before the matter goes to the voters. “Parallel to the SEQRA investigation and pending its outcome, the board will be contemplating a proposed scope of work to be included in the bond resolution,” said Superintendent of Schools Dr. Kurtis Kotes. “And I purposely say proposed. By the time the public votes on it, and if you anticipate there’s a successful vote, you’ve really only voted on a maximum amount to be spent on the proposed work.”
“By the time we go to bid and the bids come back in,” he added, “how they come back really, finally, determines how much of that work can be completed.”
Following the public presentation of the proposed work at this Wednesday evening’s Board of Education meeting, trustees will deliberate the project’s final scope and decide how much money they are prepared to ask voters to bond. The district’s architect, LAN Associates, will make that presentation.
If the bond is approved, the district would hope to complete the upgrades by spring or summer 2022, Kotes said. The district would have to wait for the state Education Department to approve the plans before work could begin. If the board tried to finish sooner, the overall price would likely rise.
“It would be too aggressive to say that we would be able to be completed by 2021; I just think that timeline is too tight,” Kotes said. “Realistically, we want to have favorable bids so the prices come back a little bit lower and we’re able to complete more of the intended scope of work.”
Eventually, the community should like what it sees.
“This would be a step in the right direction that would be not only a resource for the school for programs,” he said. “Because there are many (local) groups that use our athletic facilities, it would be a resource for the community at large as well.”
Kotes said if the district does schedule a vote for a referendum it will not be the same day as the annual budget vote and Board of Education election, which this year is Tuesday, May 19.
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