Update on the district-wide facilities improvement project for Saugerties schools

The Saugerties Central School District’s Board of Education heard last month that its $22,000,390 tax-neutral district-wide facilities project is on schedule to begin in April 2022 and finish in August of 2023. 

According to James Bouffard, a senior architectural designer with Tetra Tech Architects and Designers, the project is currently between the design development and construction documents phases. 

“The end of design development is a big milestone,” said Bouffard during the meeting held on Tuesday, July 13. “That’s where BBL’s (Senior Project Manager Michael DeLima) and his team are in the process of wrapping up an estimate that will help shape how we move forward with the construction documents. By design, we’re right now in what we call the ‘pencils down’ phase where we make sure that after we reconcile the design development estimate we’re all on the same page moving forward. Next comes specifications, ‘nuts and bolts,’ of the project.”

Bouffard explained that the construction documents will be submitted to the Office of Facilities Planning of the New York State Education Department (NYSED) for review, a process that can take around 10-12 weeks for review. DeLima said the timing was good. 

“We’ll be bidding at a great time, in the winter of ’22 to start in the spring of ’22,” DeLima said. “We’re checking all the boxes and the project is tracking really nicely from where we’re at. The project is still tracking at $22 million or slightly below. We’ll go through our checks and balances to make sure we didn’t misinterpret anything. As we’ve been tracking the market, some things have escalated over the past few months, so we have incorporated that into the project.” 

Voters overwhelmingly approved the project last December. The average age of the district buildings is 69 years. Leaks in the ceilings, walls and floors have wreaked havoc on exterior walls lined with stucco and beneath floors lined with cork. Exterior site work on crumbling pathways and other areas across the district are also a part of the overall scope of the project. 

“Obviously, there’s always a lot of capital need within the buildings with an older infrastructure,” Bouffard said. “It’s really about trying to find the balance so that everything can be done in the most cost-effective manner that truly supports the educational needs at the moment.”

Bouffard added that field work has been ongoing across the district to assess the ongoing issues. Topographical and land surveying work by Bolton Land Surveying has already been completed. Currently underway is geotechnical work being undertaken by Terracon Consultants; and environmental surveying, testing and design by Quality Environmental Solutions & Technologies (QuEST). 

In addition to site work, most buildings in the district also have work on secure vestibules in the plan. The Jr./Sr. high school will have some window and exterior wall reconstruction, and in the main gymnasium motorized plastic bleacher replacement and other upgrades are planned. The subfloor and finished floor in the weight room at the high school will be reconstructed and locker rooms in the senior high school will also be renovated to address privacy, accessibility and equitability concerns. The scope of work in the high school auditorium has also expanded, with seating, flooring, lighting and control booth replacement in the works, as well as the addition of a sound system. 

“In the high school auditorium, we didn’t originally have in there some of the acoustical items as far as adding a sound system or doing some of the more extensive lighting in the house,” Bouffard said. “But with that being the district’s front door,  it makes good sense to make sure that you’ve got upgrades to those important pieces.”

Work at the Jr./Sr. high school is projected to come in at $7,061,932. Elsewhere, the budget will be spent at Lawrence M. Cahill Elementary ($2,161,631), Grant D. Morse Elementary ($1,653,808), Mt. Marion elementary ($378,179), Charles M Riccardi Elementary ($602,818), the Hildebrandt Building that houses district offices ($653,053), with a further $1,068,066 earmarked for additional scope and alternate work. An additional  $1,086,439 has been set aside for hazardous materials abatement, with $1,466,693 for both design and construction contingencies and $4,400,078 as incidental expenses within the construction budget. 

Cahill Elementary will have some of its roof replaced and will see work done on flooring, windows and HVAC. 

Morse Elementary will also have HVAC upgrades and will have a small stage installed at one end of the gymnasium. 

Mt. Marion Elementary will have HVAC and electrical upgrades.

The Hildebrandt Building, where central administration is located, will undergo some ADA exterior access improvements, as well as some roofing replacement.