Ossining board hears detailed update on $210 million bond project; SED, SHPO, Army Corps reviews remain

Ossining — Superintendent Mary Fox Alter told the Board of Education on May 14 that work is underway to implement the district's $210,000,000 bond and that the district has submitted a preliminary package to the New York State Education Department for review.

The update matters because the bond funds multiple additions and renovations across the district'including a new career and technical education (CTE) facility, a multi-story addition at the high school, and renovation of a church the district owns'and because the district is seeking to maximize state building aid that will reduce the local share.

Architects from CPL, construction manager ARRIS Contracting and fiscal advisers told the board the team has reorganized the work into a new sequence of phases so that the district can connect the high school campus to the former church and secure state building aid for that renovation. Paul Tazi, construction manager, said the team added an initial Phase 0 to remove the rectory and other hazardous materials this summer so work can proceed from an adjacent staging area without disrupting occupied parts of the campus. "We want to get rid of some of the hazardous materials right out of the gate so we could just work on the project," Tazi said.

Architect David Hunsberger said the Phase 1 scope now includes the locker-room renovations and a new two-story CTE addition that will include a robotics lab with roll-up doors and outdoor access, science labs above the fitness center and a bridge connection at the second floor to the future church renovation. He said schematic design is complete and the team is moving into design development for room layouts and systems. "We're trying to knit all the early construction with the later construction," Hunsberger said.

Fiscal advisers described efforts to maximize building aid. Andrew Watkins and Mike Visconti said the district identified four CTE classes that PNW BOCES will certify, which increases building-aid units (BAUs) and raises the state's allowable maximum cost allowances for eligible CTE work. Visconti said the district's building aid ratio is about 68.1 percent and that the team is managing submissions, contract award timing and final cost reports so the aid flows against debt service as planned. "My sole purpose with fiscal advisers is ... to maximize building aid," Visconti said.

The board heard a multi-year sequencing and cash-flow plan: demolition and remediation of the rectory this coming summer (Phase 0A); site grading and staging (Phase 0B); construction of the locker-room and two-story addition and adjacent CTE building beginning October 2026 through July 2028; renovation of the music wing and student commons in summer 2028 to January 2030; work on a 78 Building from spring 2027 to summer 2029; and renovation of the church/CTE space in summer 2029 through summer 2031. ARRIS project manager Chris Hanneberg presented a collapsed planning schedule and said the detailed project schedules behind each block contain multiple pages for bidding, permitting and phasing.

Board members pressed staff on approvals and site constraints. The district is awaiting reviews and permits from the State Education Department (SED), the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), the New York Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) before some site work can proceed. Tazi noted tree clearing and early earthwork will be limited by seasonal wildlife protections (November 15 to March 15 for nesting restrictions) and that some staging and grading will start in late 2025 and spring 2026 once agency approvals are obtained.

The board approved routine consent items tied to construction: the agenda included several award-of-bid resolutions for the Brookside classroom addition and associated mechanical, electrical and plumbing contracts, and the board approved a resolution authorizing a letter of resolution with NYSED and OPRHP regarding the church renovation (consent agenda items 5.4'5.7 and 5.11). The motions were moved and seconded under the consent agenda and the board voted to approve them as part of the consent package.

District staff emphasized logistics and safety. Jared Mance, the district's director of facilities, and transportation head Jim Minahan briefed the board on bus and service access, staging areas and construction sequencing designed to minimize disruption to students during occupied-school construction. Project leaders said much of the early work focuses on creating a staging platform so heavy equipment does not operate over occupied building footprints.

What's next: the district said it will continue coordination with SED on the preliminary submission, pursue SHPO and federal reviews for site work, finalize design development documents, and then proceed with bidding and contract award recommendations for the board to consider. Staff said they will maintain the district's plan to avoid a tax-levy increase by sequencing borrowing, using a planned transfer to capital and maximizing state building aid.

Board members and staff stressed it is an evolving program with dependencies on state and federal approvals and building-aid determinations. "This is a team approach," Alita (Assistant Superintendent for Business) said, summarizing the district's work to date and the collaboration across architects, construction managers, fiscal advisers and school leaders.

The board asked for continued progress updates as approvals and bids move forward.