School district eyes $15.6M project to boost outdoor facilities

The Saratoga Springs City School District is looking at a $15.6 million project to improve the outdoor facilities at the high school, middle school, elementary schools and East Side and West Side recreational parks.

“We’ve both been here quite a while. I’ve been here 11 years and John [Thuener] is coming up on six, so we’ve heard a lot of community input about the shape of our fields. A lot of people don’t even realize that we own East and West side rec...” said Assistant Superintendent David L’Hommedieu. “We’ve had some of our buildings’ challenges [help raise] funding for playgrounds and things like that, so this is a way to help our elementary buildings. Same thing with our athletic fields at our secondary levels; [this project is] primarily an opportunity to move them ahead and get them to a place where they should be.”

Aside from improvements to playgrounds, fields and courts, some schools would get outdoor learning environments.

“We’re also trying to look at learning environments from a lot of different angles and your kind of limited because of the climate up here, but the concept of having outdoor learning environments, extending classrooms to stay outside,” said L’Hommedieu. “We think that opens up a lot of opportunities for our curriculum.”

The plan, in its earliest stages, includes irrigation for some fields, LED lighting in gymnasiums and completed perimeter fencing at some sites.

“Water more precisely, fertilizer is enhanced, obviously, with proper watering,” said Thuener, the district’s director of facilities, about the irrigation systems. “When you would have that on the entire site, you’d see tremendous results.”

East Side recreational park would feature the most improvements, including a turf baseball field, a new fitness trail and a brand new fieldhouse.

“With East Side rec, I’ve heard for years about the site is run down. It needs attention, and there’s no way to really piecemeal that site to make it where it should be. It should be the gem of the city. It’s in the middle of the city. So many people use it that we felt, and the superintendent felt, that if we’re going to do it, we need to do it right. Let’s get more equity within our own elementary buildings with their playgrounds because there’s an equity there. Some were able to raise money. Some have more difficulty,” said Thuener. “This would kind of make things a lot more equal. We went around and got input from all the different stakeholders, and really came up with a grand plan on how we can touch every part of the community, every property that we own and get people what they want and put it out to the community for a vote.”

Thuener and L’Hommedieu presented the “Great Outdoors Project” to the district’s Board of Education on Thursday night. The board gave the green light for Thuener and L’Hommedieu to

continue working with the LA Group and Mosaic Associates to finalize the cost and refine the scope of the project.

District officials are currently looking at a couple of different ways to pay for the project. Officials are considering how much to borrow to pay for the project, and how much could be taken out of the district’s capital reserves — essentially a savings account — to help pay for the work. The $15.6 million project is expected to receive about $4.1 million in building aid from the state, leaving a net local share of about $11.5 million.

The schedule for the project remains tentative.

The district’s Property Committee will discuss when the public should vote on the project. The tentative date was for November, but a couple board of education members advised Thursday night that maybe it should be pushed back at a normal election time.

If voters approve the project in November, officials expect the construction to begin in Spring 2019.

L’Hommedieu said the group will do a marketing/advertising campaign to explain the final dollar amount and the impact the project would have on the local taxpayer. Thuener mentioned how throughout the process, boosters will be reached out to if there’s any interest to help offset the cost.

“I think it touches all components of our community. There’s improvements for all of our schools, there’s improvements for our athletic field. East and West side rec is used by a lot of our communities. Not only community groups, but our students also play sports over there,” said L’Hommediue. “We’re excited about the impact it could have for our students and stuff but also for the community with our grounds.”

Thuener said the improvements would benefit everyone in the community.

“I just think it’s extremely exciting; I mean this will have a tremendous impact on this entire community. It’s vast improvements,” said Thuener. “It touches a lot of areas. Even older folks who maybe don’t have a stake in it, if there are benches, wayfinding and walking trail at East Side rec, I would foresee a lot of those folks maybe using the park more. There’s a lot of people that this would touch.” Some improvements — and the estimated total cost for the work at the site — include:

• High school — upgrade bathroom and concessions building, improve storage, irrigation at all fields and add a multi-use turf field; $2.9 million total cost.

• Maple Avenue Middle School — develop courtyard outdoor learning, library patio extension fencing at the soccer field and irrigation at all fields; $354,500.

• Caroline Street Elementary School — develop outdoor learning classrooms and LED lighting in the gym; $45,000.

• Dorothy Nolan school — remove relocatable classrooms, add storage, create an outdoor pavilion and add two new playgrounds/ swings; $582,000.

• Gavin Park — add paved entry road and provide parking off entry road; $300,000.

• Geyser Road school — upgrade playground, provide a nature trail with learning components and interpretive signage; $232,000.

• Lake Avenue school — add a garden planting wall at the sidewalk and improve the gymnasium; $156,250.

• Greenfield school — add an outdoor learning space, complete perimeter fencing, improve parent/ bus drop off and add outdoor pavilion; $273,700.

• East Side Rec — add turf baseball infield, renovate stadium seating, new basketball fencing, new entrance and pathways, lighting for the tennis and basketball courts, and new perimeter fencing; $4.45 million.

• West Side Rec — upgrade upper storage building, replace perimeter fencing, replace playground equipment, replace freshman baseball scoreboard, add new equipment at splash area and wall pads at upper storage exterior; $547,500.

To view a list of all improvements, visit http:// www.saratogaschools.org/ files/filesystem/Great%20 Outdoors %20 Presentation. pdf