Worrisome cracks in the brickwork, wall-joint separation, and rusting lintels are just some of the issues the Sag Harbor School District is planning to tackle with a large-scale masonry repair project expected to cost nearly $1 million.
During a public hearing on Monday, Sag Harbor School District officials displayed close-up photos of aging and deteriorating brick walls and their joints, balconies, balustrades, and other aspects of the buildings’ “envelope,” as those exterior features are known. More than 20 pictures can be found on the school board presentations page at sagharborschools.org.
At least $517,000 is allocated for Pierson Middle and High School and $398,424 for the Sag Harbor Elementary School. There are also masonry repairs needed at the Sag Harbor Learning Center — once the Catholic school Stella Maris, which the school district purchased in 2016 and spent about four years renovating. The district projects that will cost $39,586.
No community members offered opinions on the project on Monday. However, regarding the Learning Center, Brian DeSesa, the school board president, asked why repairs were needed given the recent renovations. A May 2017 report on that overhaul noted that the building’s “brick veneer appears to be in good condition; however, step cracking and mortar deterioration are present in several locations, with a high concentration at the exterior window lintels.”
On Monday, Saverio Belfiore, the district’s architect, said that “as far as the exterior masonry, it did not look like it had been addressed, so that’s what we would look to correct as part of this project.”
Jennifer Buscemi, school business administrator, said the money is already in hand, having been set aside in a reserve account dedicated to significant one-time repairs that are not of an ongoing nature. Only a public hearing is necessary before the money can be spent, meaning a community vote is not required because voters already approved the creation of the reserve fund in 2015.
It initially had $2.5 million, much of it from year-end budget surpluses. In the years since its creation, the district spent about $103,000 repairing the boilers at the elementary school and $645,000 fixing sidewalks, parking lots, and more. After the masonry project, there will still be a little over $800,000 left in case other urgent issues arise.
The district intends to seek estimates in the spring of 2022 from contractors through a competitive bidding process, with work to be completed in the summer.