With a vote on the Montauk School’s proposed $38 million renovation bond due in about 10 days, Joshua Odom, district superintendent and school principal, addressed community members last week in support of the project.
In attendance at the meeting were three representatives from BBS Architects, who have been working on the renovation alongside Mr. Odom and the school board. Over all, the crowd seemed well disposed to fund problems in and outside of the existing building — Mr. Odom mentioned, for example, that some classrooms have only a single electrical outlet — including heating systems and mechanical fresh air systems, and to improve A.D.A. accessibility.
The bulk of the bond would fund a building extension, including a gymnasium with stadium seating for 340 people, a greenhouse, a science classroom, locker rooms and coaches’ offices, storage, and bathroom access from the fields, which, judging by comments from the public, is a harder pill to swallow. Taxes are estimated to increase by around $37 a month for a house assessed at $5,500 (a $1.6 million residence, as identified by the Town of East Hampton).
Keith Schmidt of Montauk indicated that he was supportive of the project but wanted clarification on why the extension and new gym building were necessary.
“I know it’s egregiously important that this gets done, because it’s needed. I mean, stuff hasn’t been done in 40 years, 30 years. It’s needed, really bad,” he said, asking, however, whether, if “there is a project where we work within the existing building, what gets sacrificed, where are we losing?”
Mr. Odom explained that moving the gym would allow the architects to shift the building’s other rooms around. “If you peel away one, it has impacts,” he said. “Now the current gym can’t be reutilized, and P.E. is in there eight periods a day. When that falls off, well, now you need the current locker rooms, and office space moves back to its current iteration, right? Once the office space moves back in there, well, then there’s no library expansion.”
The district plans to use the current gym as a music area/multipurpose room with a collapsible wall. There is also a plan to create a new instrument-storage space. “Right now, instruments are stored on the floor and in the halls of the school,” said the principal.
Initially, he noted, the plan was to renovate the current gym, but due to “the steel beams that are in there, and the construction, it makes it very cumbersome and inefficient to do so.”
Joe Lenahan, a 1979 Montauk School graduate who stressed that he was representing only himself and not his company or the Montauk Fire Department, also said he supported the bond but that the tax hike could be an issue for the community at large. There was a murmur of agreement around the room.
“I’m all for it, because I went to the school and I know the value of a good education,” Mr. Lenahan said, “but you just have to be prepared for the people that are not able to stomach or deal with this added addition of taxes.”
Mr. Schmidt also voiced worries about the budget, considering the uncertain economic environment. “My concern here is more that a $40 million project could actually be a $50 million project or a $55 million project, based upon what’s happening with the importation issues and tariffs, et cetera,” he said, “and these numbers are based upon before that actually happened.”
Were there provisions or contingencies built in to the plan, Mr. Schmidt wanted to know. Mr. Lenahan, too, asked if there were “cost overruns” built in, should the contractors “run into any structural issues when you’re doing work to the existing building, and stuff like that?”
Kevin Walsh of the architectural firm replied that there are multiple contingencies and escalations built into the plans. “The contingencies break into two parts,” he said. “There’s design contingencies, so as we’re developing documents and getting further input, there’s a little wiggle room here and there in the design portion, and then during construction.”
Some in the audience contended that the expansion was not educationally necessary, and that it would be better if the school focused on fixing what it needs for health and safety. As the meeting continued, however, it became clear that for other members of the community, the project represents Montauk’s commitment to its future generations.
“I have a preschooler who’s starting Montauk School,” said Fallon Nigro, a PTA member, “and there’s nothing I love more than him going through the same process I went through, except that the building hasn’t changed since I’ve been in there . . . it’s time for a little bit of change, and I know it’s a big ask, and yes, I’m pulling emotional strings, but this is going to be huge for our kids.”
Leigh-Ann Hess, current PTA president and a school board candidate, agreed. “I don’t know why we don’t want to provide the best possible learning environment for our kids,” she said. “We want them to be competitive with all of the neighboring districts, to have access to the same kind of technology, the same kind of programming spaces . . . these are the kinds of things our kids should be experiencing and deserve.”
Joe Rettig of BBS fielded questions about whether local contractors could get hiring preference, but indicated that due to New York State bonding and insurance requirements, they probably would not qualify as bidders.
“I’ve been in the construction trade for over 40 years,” Mr. Lenahan commented. “There might be some people in this community that could possibly be a construction manager to oversee the project. But there is no building company on the East End that can facilitate the build of this job.”
If the bond passes, the next steps would include hiring a construction manager, forming architectural design committees (Montauk stakeholders among them), and finalizing designs before they are sent to the state for review. That process would take seven to nine months before the project could go out to bid.
With the window for community discussion before the vote beginning to close, Mr. Odom had some parting reflections on the expansion.
“This is an ambitious plan, I don’t deny that,” he said. “But it’s ambitious because we’re trying not to Band-Aid the school again. We’re trying to prepare for the next 20 years, and get ahead of the curve so we don’t wind up in the place where we are right now.”
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This article has been updated from the print version to reflect an estimated tax increase of $37 per month, not per year.