District architects present $127 million five-year capital plan; Lewisboro Elementary rated failing

H2M representatives told the Katonah-Lewisboro Union Free School District board on June 18 that the district's five-year building condition survey and accompanying capital plan total roughly $127 million in projected, all-in costs. The board voted to accept the plan for the district record and to submit it to the state education department.

The presentation, led by H2M senior engineer Mike Lantier, described two required deliverables: a state-submitted building condition survey and a five-year capital improvement plan for prioritizing projects. Lantier said the plan breaks projects into life-safety, health/property protection, systems/preventive maintenance and strategic enhancements, and that the district currently has no priority-one life-safety items requiring immediate work. "We didn't find anything that was of immediate need," he said, noting that the absence of priority-one items is "unusual" for many districts.

Why it matters: the plan is the basis for future capital applications and helps the board and finance team prioritize work and phasing. H2M estimated about $84 million of direct hard construction costs, with the rest of the $127 million figure made up of contingencies, escalation, bonds/insurance and fees. Lantier told the board the estimate assumes prevailing wage rules and other public-project costs and that roughly 70% of the work is likely aidable under state rules; he cited a district-specific state aid ratio of approximately 25.3% for 2025'26.

Board members pressed H2M on assumptions. A trustee asked why the total seemed high; Lantier answered that the figure includes contingency, escalation and prevailing wage and that priority-four items include aspirational "wish-list" projects that can be scaled. On state aid he summarized: "If 70% of the project is aidable, you would get 25.3% of that $70 million spread out over the following 15 to 18 years." (quote paraphrased for clarity).

School-level findings: H2M said most district buildings date to the 1960s and require different degrees of work. The high school and middle school account for the largest single-school shares because of footprint and site scale. Importantly, H2M told the board that Lewisboro Elementary carries an unsatisfactory-to-failing rating on recent surveys: "once it does go into the failing portion, it's significantly more of an investment to bring it up into an occupiable state," Lantier said. The board and staff discussed that Lewisboro's facade and roof are not weathertight and that further remediation would be costly.

Shady Lane and other support facilities: trustees asked whether the plan's $1.6 million figure for Shady Lane reflected demolition; H2M clarified the entry reflects costs to reoccupy or rehabilitate the building if the district chose to reuse it, not the earlier demolition estimate of roughly $325,000 noted by a past committee.

What the board approved: in a consent vote the board accepted the five-year capital improvement plan to become part of the district record and to be sent to the State Education Department; the motion to accept was made by Trustee Marjorie and seconded by Trustee Bill and carried unanimously (7-0). The board emphasized that "acceptance" is not the same as committing to spend money now; the plan becomes the working document for the finance committee to phase and cost projects against available funding and voter-approved borrowing where required.

Next steps: administration will pass the plan to the district finance committee for phasing and will bring a fiscal implementation analysis back to the board. H2M and district staff said more granular project phasing and cost options (for example, with or without particular gym or accessibility projects) will be presented at future committee and board sessions so trustees can weigh tax-impact scenarios and state-aid assumptions.

Speakers quoted: Mike Lantier (H2M), Marjorie (trustee), Bill (trustee).