Planning committee recommends five-year capital plan; year-one ask $5.88M includes track renovation and loading-dock repairs

The Cheshire School District planning committee recommended approval of a five-year capital expenditures plan and budget, with $5,879,682 proposed for year one and a total five-year outlay described by staff as roughly $31 million.

"This is I think our third meeting about the capital expenditures plan," Emily, a district staff member, told the committee as she distributed folders and presented a PowerPoint overview. She said the goal was to approve the plan in committee and recommend it to the Board of Education that night, or defer final adoption to June 4 if necessary.

The plan described 27 year-one projects and a mix of single-year and multiyear items. Among the largest year-one items discussed was a $1.9 million track and field renovation that staff said could be covered in large part by a potential reimbursement of up to $1.5 million (approximately a 95% reimbursement rate). "Because of that reimbursement we were able to reduce the amount of money in the turf project to 475," Emily said, noting that the reimbursement would keep the project below the district's referendum threshold.

Committee members pressed for details about scope and timing. Staff said the consultant SLR recommended reducing contingency to 5% and that, if the district approves the work, construction could reasonably be executed in summer 2027. The project scope discussed included replacement of the track and turf, ball-safety netting, chain-link fence adjustments and some reconfiguration of bleacher stairways to meet compliance standards.

Members also discussed a separate safety-driven item: a loading dock at the high school with crumbling concrete and exposed rebar. Emily described the loading-dock work as addressing an immediate safety concern while also providing additional capacity for refrigeration and deliveries to support an expanded school nutrition program. "The crumbling rebar is really the primary focus," she said, adding that the district could design the dock to last and accommodate future needs.

Other items reviewed included a placeholder bus-depot project moved into year three (staff cited a very rough $800,000 estimate for site clearing and paving), greenhouse and playground replacements, outbuilding replacements at Cheshire High School and snow-removal equipment replacement. Committee members and staff discussed the status of an energy performance contract (EPC) that has about $20 million locked in but an additional roughly $3035 million at risk; members noted that if EPC funding does not materialize some projects now counted on that financing could need to be reallocated.

Following discussion, a member read a motion recommending that the planning committee recommend Board of Education approval of the five-year plan, listing year-one funding at $5,879,682 and annual allocations for subsequent years. The motion was seconded and passed by unanimous voice vote.

The committee concluded with assignment-level planning: staff agreed to prepare clearer public-facing descriptions for referendum-related items, investigate whether the track project requires any advisory committee or public input process, and continue coordinating timing with planning and zoning and with consultants.

The planning committee's recommendation now goes to the Cheshire Board of Education for consideration and formal adoption.